How to Survive Your Opposites
by Sir Weston
Summary: A competition between Berk and their rivals, Kreb, puts Hiccup and the gang in over their heads. Especially when they meet six teens who are their exact opposites! And they're also a lot more ruthless. How will Hiccup and the others survive? R & R, please
1. Chapter 1

**How to Survive Your Opposites**

**Or**

**Surprise Encounters of the Opposite Kind**

**That's right, this one has two titles. I have decided to write this because no has thought of this (I don't think.) If you want to learn my shippings and how my world works, you should read my other HTTYD fan fiction: How to be Banished. Don't worry. I'm still updating that one. I'm working on both of these at the same time, and I am determined to do well. When I run into a roadblock on one, I'll work on the other one. And if I can't think of anything for either one, then I'm screwed. So there's that.**

**I apologize in advance for the corny and horrible names, but they were the best I could do. Also, I'm borrowing a character my sister made. I couldn't think of anyone to mediate. So yeah.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD. I also don't own Slackjaw the terrifying. He belongs to Jellyfish Jam, but she gave me permission to use him. The only thing I own is my imagination, and I'm renting that out to someone right now.**

**Chapter 1: The Isle of Random and Scary Objects**

Thor was upset about something. He turned the waves of the sea in a violent fashion, and threw lightning down at the tiny Viking ships who _dared_ try to sail through the storm. At the head of the ships was a large hairy man, who was chief of the tribe called Stoic the Vast. He stood at the helm of the ship, looking strong and proud. Following his ship were ten other slightly smaller ships filled with tough and scary looking Vikings. At the very end of this group of ships was a huge group of dragons flying overhead, looking out for danger. In the middle of the group of dragons was an even _smaller_ ship with six teenage Vikings, and their teacher, Gobber the Belch.

While Stoic, Gobber, and the rest of the adults easily navigated the storm and kept control of their ships, the six teenagers spent most of their energy _trying not to fly off._ The sort-of leader of this rag-tag group of teens was a skinny boy named Hiccup. He was the only son to Chief Stoic. The blond girl by his side, clinging to his arm to balance him was Astrid. She was sort of his girlfriend. The two who were fighting over the bucket to bail out water were the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Ruffnut, the girl, had a deep crush on Hiccup, ad her brother, Tuffnut, knew this. Oh, and they fought a lot. The boy puking over the side of the ship was Fishlegs. He was a friend of sorts to Hiccup, but he wasn't very brave or smart when it came to fighting. The biggest of the teens, the one trying to look strong was Snotlout. He was Hiccup's cousin, and was almost always bullying him. Gobber was expected to look after the group and train them to become proper Vikings, and (because their parents were almost never around) was their guardian of sorts. He was barking out orders to them in his loudest voice.

"Snotlout!" he shouted, "Stop standing there and do something useful! Tuffnut! Ruffnut! Stop arguing and start bailing the water! Fishlegs! Stop puking and steer this tub! Hiccup, Astrid! Start rowing! _I'm_ not going to do it!"

As the teens scrambled to do as he said, one black dragon separated from the rest of the group and swooped down to the small ship. This was Toothless the Night Fury, Hiccup's dragon and best friend. He and Hiccup needed each other, Toothless needed Hiccup's help to fly because of his damaged tail, and Hiccup needed Toothless's support because he was missing a leg. Hiccup could talk to Toothless in his mind, that no one else could. Toothless landed easily on the deck, which rocked the boat violently.

"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted, "Get that dragon out of here! Do you want to sink us?"

"Sorry, Gobber," Hiccup muttered, _"Toothless, what are you doing? You could've sunk the ship!"_

_ "Sorry," _he apologized, _"I was just wondering what the heck we were doing out here."_

Hiccup sighed. He had already explained this to Toothless eleven times. When was he going to stop asking? _"Okay, I'm going to explain this to you one more time, okay?"_ he said, _"We're sailing out to the Isle of Random and Scary objects for a 'friendly' competition with the tribe from Kreb, our blood rivals. And by that, I mean Stoic is going to pit the six of us against six of their Vikings-in-training while the adults watch and get drunk."_

_ "Why?" _Toothless asked, boredly, inspecting his nails.

_"I don't know,"_ Hiccup admitted, _"Something about tradition and defending the tribe's honor and such. All I know is that there's this big festival while the adults watch us kill each other. Kind of barbaric, really."_

That answer seemed to satisfy the dragon, so he took off into the air with a mighty leap, which rocked the ship again. Water splashed over the side, which splashed everyone except Gobber, freezing them down to their bones.

Finally, as the storm started to wane, a call shouted out. "LAND HO!" In the distance was a large island with a dormant volcano. It rose out of the sea like a large and imposing creature. As the tiny Viking ships and their dragons sailed eagerly towards the island, out of the storm came seven HUGE Viking ships full of Kreb Vikings. They zoomed past the Berk ships, nearly over turning them in their wake. They could hear laughter on board the giant ships.

"Okay," Snotlout said, shivering violently, "I want to go home now."

"We can't go home now!" Gobber exclaimed, "We got to get back at those jerks! We ain't taking that lying down! Now keep rowing!"

Snotlout grumbled to himself as he sat down next to his cousin, helping him row. It took another hour to reach the island, where the people from Kreb were already setting up their stands. As soon as they landed, the people from Berk started pulling out their tents and stands and setting up as well. Stoic strode up to Gobber and the teens with another huge man who was just as tall, if not taller, than Stoic. He had a huge gray beard, and a massive Viking helmet on his head. He smiled at them with a huge smile.

"Kids," Stoic said, "This is the chief of Kreb, Stench the Huge."

"Glad to meet y'all," Stench said, shaking hands with each of them, and nearly tearing their arms off in the process. He looked at Snotlout. "You must be Stoic's son," he said, putting a massive paw on his head and rubbing it, "I've heard a lot about you!"

"Actually, he's my nephew," Stoic told him, "_That's_ my son!" He looked proudly down at Hiccup.

"Nice to meet you," Hiccup murmured respectfully in a barely audible voice. Stench let out a huge, jolly, and hearty laugh.

"Of course! Of course!" he chuckled, "I remember now! Wow, time has flied! Last time I saw you, you were this big!" He pinched his fingers together. "You guys have got to meet my son, and the other trainees." He put his fingers to his lips and whistled.

Within seconds, six teens (four of which were taller than all six of the Berk teenagers) stood before them. A huge "boy" stood in front of Hiccup, a faint beard growing on his chin. His arms were huge, and powerful. Behind him sat a pure white Night Fury with blood red eyes. Toothless growled slightly at the sight of it. Hiccup shrank back slightly from the imposing figure in front of him.

Next to him was a small girl who was standing in front of Astrid, and was half Hiccup's size. Astrid stared down at her in pure astonishment that anyone could be so tiny. The girl quivered in fear and looked up at Astrid with large, terrified eyes.

Standing next to the small girl and in front of Fishlegs was a giant of a boy with his lower jaw sticking out. His eyes were crossed and he breathed through giant nostrils that blew at Fishlegs's face. His arms weren't as big as the first boy, but they were still big.

In front of Snotlout was a skinny boy who looked like a twig with a head. He smiled up at Snotlout through glasses, and wrinkled his pig-like nose. His front teeth stuck out from his upper lip and freckles littered his face. His knees were shaking in an effort to keep him up, and his arms had no thickness to them at all.

Last in line were two Vikings who were obviously twins, as they looked a lot alike, except one was a girl, and the other a boy. They were smiling joyfully at Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who stared at them in sheer horror and disgust. They had long blond hair, much like the twins, and had braided their hair into elegant braids and fashions. By the looks of it, they were very close, as opposed to Ruff and Tuff.

"These are the Kreb Vikings-in-training," Stench told them, "This is my son, Belchus. And this is his dragon, Sharpteeth. And this is Cake, Sharkfeet, Noseferatu, and the twins, Sandy and Mandy." Each of them nodded in turn as he touched them in introduction.

"Well, these are Berk's up-and-comers," Stoic said, "My son, Hiccup. That's his dragon, Toothless. And this is Astrid, my nephew, Snotlout, and Fishlegs, and our set of twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut." He placed a massive paw on each of their heads as he spoke, and the force nearly sent them to the ground. He gestured Gobber forward. "You remember Gobber," he said, "He's the new man in charge of Viking training."

"What happened to the old one?" Stench wondered.

"He died," Gobber told him simply.

"Aren't ye forgettin' about me?" wheezed a voice. Stench turned around. A man who reminded Hiccup of an old Gobber was hobbling towards them. Stench laughed.

"Ah yes," he said, "This is Clobber the Fart. He's our man in charge of Viking training."

"More like 'old fart,'" Snotlout muttered to Hiccup and the others. They all snickered slightly, but fell silent when Stoic glared at them.

"Come on," Stench said, slapping Stoic on the back, "Let's leave these kids to get acquainted." Then the four adults walked away, laughing.

Hiccup stared at the ground, as no one said anything. Astrid rubbed her arm, awkwardly, and Snotlout stared, unimpressed, at Noseferatu. Fishlegs cowered in fear of Sharkfeet, and Toothless glared at Sharpteeth. The twins continued staring in disgust at Sandy and Mandy, as they smiled a toothy grin at them. Someone was going to have to break the silence.

"So," Belchus said, after a long time of sizing up Hiccup, "You are the son of Stoic? Not much to look at. I heard that you managed to get rid of the giant dragon. I suppose we should thank you for that."

"Um, thanks," Hiccup muttered. He looked down at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with this giant. Belchus looked down too, and noticed his missing leg.

"What happened to your leg?" he wondered.

"I lost it while fighting the giant dragon," Hiccup responded, quietly.

"And you never found it again?" Noseferatu asked in a high-pitched irritating voice that made everyone flinch in annoyance.

Snotlout looked at him, confused. "Are you some kind of idiot?" he asked.

Noseferatu blinked at him. "Am I?" he wondered.

Astrid intervened before Snotlout could say anything. "So," she said to the small girl opposite of her, "Why do they call you Cake?"

"Because she's so small," Belchus replied before Cake could open her mouth, "I like to call her that. I also call her Strawberry. You know, like Strawberry Shortcake?"

"My name isn't really Cake, though," the girl said in a tiny voice, "It's-"

"No one cares, Cake!" Belchus snapped. Hiccup and Astrid cast a glance at each other.

At that moment Stoic called to them. "Come on, kids! Time to see where you're staying!" The six teens from Berk said a hasty good-bye, then quickly retreated.

"Well, that was pleasant," Fishlegs muttered as soon as they were out of earshot.

"What was with those guys?" Tuffnut asked, casting a glance back over his shoulder, "They wouldn't stop staring at us."

"They were a bunch of freaks," Snotlout concluded, "Nothing to worry about."

When they reached Stoic, he gestured them over to two small, piddly tents. "The boys sleep in this tent," he told them, motioning to one of the tents, "And girls sleep in the other. Any questions? Good! Well, get to bed early! Good night!" Then he lumbered off.

"But I had a question," Fishlegs muttered.

**And that (dramatic pause) is that! See, I made it easy for you to tell who was the opposite of whom! Aren't I nice? Next time we introduce Slackjaw and start the first challenge! Yay! BTW, Hiccup was exaggerating when he was talking to Toothless. The adults do some competitions too; it's just MOSTLY the kids. Please read and review my story. I would very much appreciate it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**How to Survive Your Opposites**

**Hey there! Hopefully my first chapter didn't repulse you too badly. I always appreciate loyal fans! And I'm working on this chapter and my next chapter for How to Be Banished at the same time, so I may go in and out of ideas. Even I don't know what I'm talking about! So without further adu, here's your suckish fan fiction.**

**PS. I'm planning no less than eight kissing scenes, so have that to look forward to in the future!**

**Chapter 2: The First Sucky Challenge**

Even though it was only Astrid and Ruffnut in the tent, it still seemed horribly cramped. Astrid imagined that the boy's tent was probably more so. She was glad that she could be completely open and honest with Ruffnut and not be afraid that she might run off and tell her brother. Especially since Tuffnut and Ruffnut didn't get along very well anyway.

The tent was set up a considerable distance away from the boy's tent, and that was good, as the two girls didn't want them over hearing their conversations. Boys could be nosy like that.

The two girls set up their blankets right in the middle of the tent to avoid drafts and share the warmth. They lied down, but sleep did not come. So they talked instead.

"So what was up with those Kreb Vikings today?" Ruffnut asked, "Did you see that Belchus? He was huge!"

"It was like he had little heads for shoulders," Astrid agreed, "I would hate to have him for a son. I would also hate to be his dragon."

"Yes. That Night Fury looked smaller than Toothless," Ruffnut said, "Imagine a smallish dragon flying around a huge man. Poor thing."

"And what was with the color?" Astrid wondered, "Was it albino or something? Not much of a _Night_ Fury…"

They were interrupted when they saw a light outside the tent. They closed their mouths and waited for it to pass. They were supposed to be asleep, and Stoic would be angry if they were tired for the first challenge.

As soon as the light passed, the two girls lied down and went to sleep.

The boy's tent was set up a considerable distance away from the girl's tent, and that was good, as the four boys didn't want them overhearing their conversations. Girls could be nosy like that. Especially Ruffnut, according to her brother.

Hiccup lay near the edge of the tent, with his back turned to the rest of the boys. Snotlout talked in an obnoxiously loud voice so Hiccup could hear. He wished he wouldn't.

"And did you see that twig?" Snotlout asked, yawning very loudly, "I couldn't figure out was keeping him together."

"I know," Tuffnut agreed, "He was like a stick with legs. And a pig nose."

"And don't forget about that Sharkfeet!" said Fishlegs, nervously, "He was a monster!"

"And a giant," Tuffnut pointed out.

There was a pause. "A giant monster," Snotlout said, and laughed to himself as if he were the cleverest guy to have ever been born.

"Boo!" Hiccup called disapprovingly over his shoulder.

As Snotlout glared at him, Tuffnut added his rant. "I didn't like the way that one twin was staring at my sister," he said.

"Which one?" Fishlegs asked. Tuffnut gave him an annoyed stare.

"The girl," he growled. "I'm talking about that Sandy."

"I thought Mandy was the girl," Fishlegs said, confused.

"Wow," Tuffnut sighed under his breath, "Did you see the way Sandy was making googley eyes at my sister?"

"Yes," Hiccup replied, turning to face them since he decided they weren't going to let him get to sleep, "It was creepy. But did you notice, Tuffnut, the way Mandy was staring at _you_?"

Tuffnut paused. He hadn't, and now he felt violated. "Um, no," he muttered.

"She couldn't keep her eyes off you," Hiccup said, yawning.

"Thor knows why," Snotlout added, "But I'm mad about that Sandy guy! No one looks at my babe like that!" Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut all gave him a confused look. "No one looks at your sister like that!" he corrected.

"Then of course, there was that huge guy," Fishlegs said, "I don't think he was even a teenager! Can you imagine having a guy like that as a son?"

"Who, Belchus?" Snotlout asked, "Yeah, he was a freak. It was like he had three heads, or something. And did you see those arms? No way they were natural!"

Suddenly, there was a sharp "Ow!" from Snotlout as he was kicked in the side from outside the tent. "Hey guys!" Astrid's voice came, "Shut up! We can hear you all the way from our tent!"

"We really should get to sleep," Hiccup pointed out, as Astrid strode away, "We don't want to be tired tomorrow and basically hand the first challenge to Kreb."

"Whatever," Snotlout muttered.

In a few minutes they were all asleep, and Hiccup didn't notice the dark figure outside the tent, glaring at him through the flap.

The next morning, a chill was in the air. A mist hung off the ground, chilling the children's bones and making them shiver. Their event was first, so they had to get up early. Through the mist the twelve of them could see five figures coming towards them. The first four were Stoic, Stench, Gobber, and Clobber. The fifth was a new face to Kreb, but one that Hiccup knew very well; a face that he feared.

It was Slackjaw the Terrifying, and he was called that for a good reason. Though he was ridiculous and vulture like in appearance, he was ruthless. He had a hooked nose and a long vulture-like neck that swung back and forth whenever he talked, or snored, or yelled, or breathed. And of course, he had a slack jaw, which gave him the name Slackjaw. He also had this annoyingly high-pitched voice that turned Hiccup's blood to ice. Though he looked comical to some, he was truly terrifying to Hiccup.

"Hello," Slackjaw greeted, in that high-pitched voice, "To those of you who do not know me, I am Slackjaw. I have been working with Stench and Stoic to come up with the challenges." He shuffled forward until he was standing right in front of Hiccup. "I will be mediating and refereeing the challenges, so what I say goes. Got that?"

"What did he say?" Snotlout muttered to Tuffnut, who shrugged.

"Why don't you explain the challenge to 'em, eh, Slackjaw?" Stoic said, slapping him hard on the back and nearly sending him to the ground.

"Right," Slackjaw growled, brushing himself, "The first challenge is simplicity in itself. You see that tree behind you?"

The twelve teens turned and out of the mist saw a massively tall tree rising high past the top of the fog. It had a thick trunk and many sturdy branches.

"All you have to do is climb it, grab the flag at the top, and bring it back to me. The first one who accomplishes this is the winner. And you must all be together when you present it to me, or else you don't win. If you give up half way or fall off, I will have my dragon get you, but you will not be able to try again."

The kids all stared up at the tree, craning their necks to try to see the top. At the very tip was a bright orange flag waving merrily in the wind. This was going to be utterly impossible.

"I accept this challenge and will pass it with honor," Belchus said in a loud voice. He leaped up to the first branch and started slowly climbing the tree. The rest of the Kreb kids followed, except for Cake, who couldn't reach the first branch.

"All right Fishlegs, up you go!" Snotlout said, giving him a shove.

Fishlegs gave him an alarmed look. "Why me?" he asked.

"Because," Snotlout replied, "You can test each branch and see if it's safe."

"That's really rude Snotlout," Astrid pointed out. Then, using Cake (who was slowly inching her way up the trunk towards the first branch,) for a boost, she hopped to the first branch and pulled Hiccup up with her.

Grumbling, and also using Cake for a boost, Snotlout started up after them. Tuffnut and Ruffnut went around to the other side of the tree and started their climb from there. Fishlegs stood where he was. "Um, I'm sure you guys can do fine without me!" he called after his friends, "I'll just wait right here."

Looking up, Hiccup was surprised to see that the Kreb kids were not that far ahead of them. The nearest to them was Sharkfeet, who was struggling to keep his balance. He was glad he had Astrid with him; otherwise he would never be able to climb this high. He glanced down to see where the others were, and saw that Snotlout was not far behind. He couldn't see the twins, however, and assumed that they were on the other side of the tree. Then he saw Fishlegs, who already looked very tiny from where he was on the ground.

"Don't look down," Astrid warned him.

"Right," Hiccup muttered, feeling a little light headed.

On the other side of the tree, Tuffnut and Ruffnut were quickly catching up to Sandy and Mandy, who were just a few meters ahead of them.

"We can do this," Tuffnut said, "We just need to knock them off their branches."

"For once I agree with you," Ruffnut said. She plucked a pinecone off from the branch she was standing on, and chucked it up at Mandy. There was a sharp "Ow!" as it banged her on her unprotected head.

"Good one," Tuffnut sneered.

The two looked down at their foes, then turned to each other. "They are trying to knock us off!" they said in unison, "We must defeat them!"

"Freaks," Ruffnut muttered to her brother.

Suddenly, pinecones came raining down on them in hundreds. Sandy and Mandy were plucking pinecones off the tree at the speed of lightning and throwing them down at the twins. Panicking, they quickly took cover under a small branch.

"What are we going to do?" Ruffnut asked, desperately.

"Do you have your ax on you?" Tuffnut wondered.

"Of course I do," she replied, pulling it out and handing it to him. Emerging from their cover, he took aim and threw the ax as hard as he could up at their tormentors. It sliced through the branch they were standing on, leaving only a little sliver keeping it up.

"Ha! You missed!" they both taunted. Then the branch collapsed under them and sent them hurtling towards the ground, screaming. A monstrous dragon flew underneath them and caught them before they hit the ground.

Smirking, the two continued their climb.

On the opposite side of the tree, Astrid and Hiccup had caught up to Sharkfeet. In a blind fury, he started swinging at them with his ax, the two small kids just barely dodging in time. Each time the large teen swung at them, he fought to stay on.

"We need to unbalance him somehow!" Hiccup told Astrid.

"How?" she asked.

They screamed as Sharkfeet's ax swung at them, embedding itself in the trunk. Sharkfeet tottered dangerously on the edge. Wondering how they were going to knock him off, a sharp cry came from below them. Snotlout lunged up the tree and sliced through the branch their large foe was standing on. With a yell, he fell to the ground.

"Thanks, Snotlout!" Astrid exclaimed, "You saved us! We owe you one!"

"Owe me enough to give me a kiss?" Snotlout asked, hopefully.

"Not even close," she replied.

As they prepared to continue their climb, they suddenly heard a sharp cry of pain from the other side of the tree. They gasped.

"That sounded like Ruffnut!" Hiccup said. They carefully made their way around the tree and found Ruffnut crouching on a branch, clutching her shoulder. Tuffnut was beside her supporting her so she wouldn't fall off.

"What happened?" Hiccup asked them.

"I don't know," Ruffnut replied, "I think I cut my shoulder on one of these stupid branches! Ow…"

"You can't climb like this," Tuffnut insisted.

"Yes, I can!" his sister growled. She tried to stand, but immediately crumbled again.

"That's it," Hiccup said, "You're not climbing anymore. You need to get back to the ground."

Almost as soon as he said this, Slackjaw's huge demonic dragon flew up to them. Tuffnut and Hiccup carefully helped Ruffnut onto it, and then it flew back to the ground. The group then turned back to their goal.

They got about half way up when they reached Noseferatu. As soon as he saw them, he let out a high-pitched girly scream. "I give up! I give up!" he cried. The dragon was on him in an instant, plucking him from the tree and flying back to the ground.

"Whimp," Snotlout sneered. They continued their ascent.

They were three quarters of the way up when Hiccup realized that they had not seen Belchus yet. Had he already gotten to the top? Was he already on his way down making this climb fruitless? If that was true, then they had aided him by knocking off his companions.

But as they got nearer to the top, Hiccup could see Belchus standing on a small tree branch waiting for them. It wasn't until they reached him before he said anything. "I have reached the top first!" he bellowed, "I will claim victory! And you must die!"

"Wait, what?" Tuffnut asked, right before Belchus bent and plucked him from the tree. Then, giving a mighty cry, he chucked the boy off the tree, clear of the branches.

"Tuffnut!" Astrid cried, before she, too, was plucked from the tree and thrown off. Hiccup looked just in time to see the dragon catch them both.

"Okay, cousin," Snotlout said, preparing for a heroic speech, "I know the situation looks bleak, but you-" he was cut off when Belchus picked him up by the back of his shirt and threw him from the tree. He was caught instantly by the dragon.

Hiccup gulped. He was sure he would be next, and then they would lose. But to his surprise, Belchus did not move. He stood there and stared at him.

"I must have an honorable battle with the Rival Chief's Son!" Belchus growled, "No one must interfere!"

_Oh great, _Hiccup thought, _he's one of _those_ people!_

Belchus gave him no more time to think as he swung his ax at him. He barely had time to dodge. He quickly grabbed the tree to keep himself from falling off. He let go immediately, however, as Belchus swung again. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the black dragon flying around, his friends still on its back, just waiting for him to fall.

_Okay, Hiccup,_ the boy thought to himself, _You gotta outsmart this guy somehow. But how? HOW?_

Belchus swung again, and Hiccup ducked. This time his ax chopped off the top of the tree, where Belchus was holding. With a shout, he toppled backwards, unbalanced. Hiccup gave him a great shove and he fell from the tree, letting go of the flag. Hiccup quickly snatched the flag out of the air before it could fall out of reach.

"All right!" Snotlout called, "He did it! Now we just gotta get down!"

But Hiccup clung to the top of the tree in terror. Getting up there was one thing. Getting down was another thing entirely.

As the others landed safely on the ground, they all looked up. Hiccup wasn't coming. "Come on, Hiccup!" Astrid called up, "We only win when we're all here! So get down here!"

"Uh-uh!" Hiccup called back.

"Come on!" Snotlout growled, "You've been that high before!"

"Yeah," Hiccup replied, "Safely on the back of a sturdy dragon, and not clinging to some dinghy tree top!"

"Maybe we should cut the tree down," Tuffnut offered, helpfully.

Without saying anything, and almost as soon as the words left his mouth, Slackjaw pulled out a saw and started banging the tree with it. Stoic gasped and grabbed it, lifting the saw, and Slackjaw off the ground.

"Where did he get this?" he growled, "I thought we agreed Slackjaw was not aloud to have any weapons!" He still remembered how Slackjaw tried to take over the tribe. And kill his son.

It took about two hours as Hiccup slowly inched his way down the massive tree. As soon as his feet touched the ground, his friends tackled him to the ground, surrounding him for protection from the Kreb kids as they dragged him over to Slackjaw.

"We win!" Snotlout announced.

Slackjaw glared at them with his wild eyes as his right eye twitched. "Fine," he growled, "Berk is the winner of the first challenge."

They all let out wild cheers of joy as the Kreb Vikings grumbled miserably. But Hiccup just stared in horror at Slackjaw as he leaned to hiss at him.

"I warn you, boy," he spat, "It only gets harder from here!"

**Wow! Scary! Want to know where Slackjaw comes from? Read my sister's fanfiction (if she ever puts it up) called How to Reclaim Your Honor. That's where he comes from, and will explain things a little more. Basically he tried to take over as chief and grew a vast hatred of Hiccup in the process and was banished. Why is he mediating these games? Who knows?**

**Anyway, next time we slow down a little as the two teams really get to know each other, and the kids from Berk wish they never came. Won't that be fun? This is also where we learn the true natures of some of them.**

**By the way, when Hiccup got back down the tree, Cake was still pathetically attempting to reach the first branch. **


	3. Chapter 3

**How to Survive Your Opposites**

**Wow! Was that challenge epic or what? I didn't think they would make it for a moment. (Pause.) Actually I did. I'm the author, after all.**

**Today we look at the more simple side of the Kreb teens. And by that I mean we get to see what perverted bitches they are.**

**CHAPTER 3 – Whee With a Sarcastic Note**

Hiccup lay awake that night, staring at the top of the tent. Though he felt tired, he couldn't sleep. Even Fishlegs's snoring, Snotlout's mumbling, and Tuffnut's deep breathing could not help him. Sighing, he got up and left the tent, deciding to go for a walk.

It was pitch black outside, as the moon was new, and the stars were covered by clouds. Hiccup gasped when he felt cold skin press against him.

_"Don't worry, boy,"_ came Toothless's voice, _"It is only I!"_

_ "Toothless, you scared me,"_ Hiccup panted, getting his breath back, _"What are you doing up, anyway?"_

_ "I couldn't sleep," _the dragon admitted, _"Something was bothering me, but I didn't know what. What about you, boy?"_

_ "Ah, same here," _he said, _"Couldn't sleep. And Slackjaw is haunting my every thought. The guy frightens me, Toothless. He wants to kill me."_

_ "I know what you mean," _Toothless said, shivering, _"I can't get him out of my mind. What is he doing here, anyway?"_

_ "Who knows," _Hiccup replied, shrugging, _"Come on, let's go for a walk."_

Leaning on Toothless for support, they walked down the path away from the tents, not know that a pair of evil eyes was on their backs.

The next morning, the boys were rudely awakened when Stoic poked his head through the opening. "Rise and shine, boys!" he exclaimed, "It's a brand new day, and it's a beautiful morning! Up and at 'em!"

All four boys groaned, but none of them moved. It wasn't until ten minutes later, in which all four of them went back to sleep, in which Astrid and Ruffnut came. The tsked at their laziness, then, one by one, started dragging the boys from the tent and out of their sleeping bags.

"Hey!" Snotlout muttered, "What's the big idea?" He opened his eyes and saw Astrid and Ruffnut glaring down at him, annoyed looks on their faces.

Eventually the boys mustered up enough will power to get ready for the day. As they walked to the Great Hall of Greatness where meals were held, Ruffnut paced alongside her brother, smoothing down his hair, as he had not bothered to do it himself. Tuffnut growled at her, and swatted her away as they walked. Hiccup shuffled along next to Astrid as Snotlout tried to hit on her. Fishlegs waddled along behind them.

When they got to the hall, they saw the entire place was divided by boys and girls. Boys sat on one side, and girls were on the other. They saw the Kreb teens sitting at two tables that were near each other so they could still talk. As soon as they saw the kids from Berk, they waved them over. Glancing awkwardly at each other, the group split up to go to the different tables.

Astrid and Ruffnut, after grabbing a tray of food, slowly sat down across from Cake and Mandy, who smiled at them.

"Hello, girls!" Mandy greeted, "How did you sleep last night?"

The two glanced at each other. "Um, fine?" Astrid replied.

"Yeah, fine," Ruffnut muttered, rubbing her shoulder in pain.

"That was an impressive win you guys pulled off yesterday," Cake said in a quiet voice.

Astrid smiled. "Thank you," she said, "You guys were doing pretty well yourselves." Mandy laughed.

"Maybe," she replied, "But we were nowhere near as good as you. Especially you and your brother," she said, turning to Ruffnut, "We didn't think you'd throw that ax at us!"

"I guess," Ruffnut muttered, "Would you believe my brother came up with that? He's pretty dumb, but I guess he does have his moments." She took a sip from her glass.

"I don't know," Mandy replied, glancing over at the boys table, "I think your brother is kind of cute."

As those words left her mouth, Ruffnut spat her drink out in shock. Eyes wide, she gasped for breath as Astrid gently patted her on the back. When she finally got her breath back, she looked at the smiling Mandy.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I must have misheard you. I could've sworn you said my brother was 'cute.'"

"I did," Mandy sighed, staring over at Tuffnut. Ruffnut gagged to herself.

"You know who I think is cute," Cake said, blushing, "Is that Snotlout fella."

This time Astrid spat, as she was taking a sip. But then she turned the cup upside down and shook it. "Oh yeah," she muttered, "I didn't get anything to drink."

"Why in all that is good would you think _Snotlout_ is cute?" Ruffnut asked Cake with a disgusted look on her face. She too, thought Snotlout was repugnant.

Cake didn't answer, but just stared over at the boys table, blushing.

At the boys table, they were talking about much of the same thing, except the genders were reversed. And stuff.

Actually, for a while none of the boys spoke. Belchus towered above them, looking tall and proud, making even eating seem like it was heroic. Noseferatu ate with his mouth open as little food chunks came dribbling from his mouth. Sharkfeet ate much like a shark. Sandy ate very slowly, waiting until he had completely chewed the flavor out of the food before swallowing.

The Berk teens ate a little differently. Hiccup wasn't eating at all and just stared at his plate. Snotlout shoveled food into his mouth, choked once or twice, then continued shoveling. Fishlegs was still on his first bite, chewing endlessly. Tuffnut just spread the food on his plate around, but never put any of it in his mouth.

Needless to say, this lunch was very awkward.

Finally, Noseferatu decided to start a conversation. Not a very good one, mind you, but at least it broke the awkward silence. "So," Noseferatu said, in his high irritating voice, "Did you hear about Pluto? That's messed up, right?"

Like I said, not very good, but it broke the silence.

Belchus stared down at Hiccup as he tried not to look him in the eye. "So, smallish one," he said, "Good job yesterday. I did not think you would win."

"Yeah, go figure," Hiccup muttered.

Noseferatu laughed his _really_ annoying laugh. "You guys creamed us!" he exclaimed.

"You didn't even try," Sandy pointed out.

Snotlout raised his head. "I did most of the work," he said, "I had to do all the fighting, and moral support. I fought the hardest."

"Um, who's the one who got those two clowns out?" Tuffnut asked, indicating Sandy and Mandy.

"Uh, who's the first one who was thrown from the tree?" Snotlout reminded him.

"I wasn't ready," his friend muttered.

"Hey," Sandy said suddenly, turning to Tuffnut, "You know who's really hot?" He waited until Tuffnut took a sip of his drink. "Your sister, Ruffnut. She's really hot."

As soon as he said that, Tuffnut spluttered. He gasped and stared at Sandy, who raised an eyebrow at him. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I think I misheard you. _Who_ did you think was 'hot'?"

"Your sister," Sandy replied. He sighed and stared over at her as Tuffnut rolled his eyes and started to take a bite of his food. Sandy sighed again.

"Boy," he said, "The things I'd like to do to her!"

Tuffnut inhaled and started choking as soon as the words left Sandy's mouth. Snotlout, Hiccup, and Fishlegs stared in pure astonishment as their friend collapsed to the floor, fighting for breath.

At the girl's table, Astrid heard a thud and turned to look. Then she nudged Ruffnut. "Your brother's choking again," she told her.

"Yeah," Ruffnut said, apathetically, spreading her food around.

Snotlout helped his friend up and gave a hard whack on the back, that sent the object choking him (his fork) flying across the table. He panted hard, fighting to regain his breath.

"You're… sick…" Tuffnut panted between breaths, "What makes you think I would let you anywhere near my sister? Jeez, you make me sick. I almost threw up in my mouth."

"I'd like to do things in _her_ mouth," Sandy said, making disturbing faces at her. Tuffnut stared at him.

"Okay, now I really am going to throw up," he muttered, getting up from the table and stalking away. Hiccup watched him go as Snotlout and Fishlegs made disgusted faces at Sandy.

"You know which of the babes I think is hottest?" Noseferatu asked.

"Not particularly," Hiccup muttered.

"No," Snotlout replied.

Noseferatu told them anyway. "Cake! She's a babe!"

"Freak," Sandy muttered under his breath. Snotlout glared at him.

"Oh, and you're not?" he asked, "Pervert."

Hiccup sighed and rested his head on his hand and tuned out the conversations at his table. He really didn't feel like listening to them. So he listened to the girls instead.

Astrid and Ruffnut listened as Mandy and Cake listed all the boys they ever thought were "hot." Ruffnut leaned over to Astrid.

"I don't think I can take anymore of this," she hissed to her.

"Don't worry," Astrid reassured her, "They can't possibly say anything else to upset us."

"Oh, but you know the cutest out of all of them is?" Mandy said, "That small boy from Berk, Hiccup!"

Ruffnut immediately lashed her arms out and just barely caught Astrid around the waist as she went for Mandy's throat. She growled with anger as Ruffnut desperately tried to hold her back.

"I'm gonna kill her!" Astrid growled.

"Calm down, Astrid!" Ruffnut gasped, "Pull it together! It's not like she has a shot at him anyway! Be still!"

Hiccup's eyes widened at the scene that was taking place before him. He had no idea what they had said, but clearly _something_ had set Astrid off.

Meanwhile, Belchus was taking his turn to speak. "You know," he said, "In my family it is tradition to forcibly marry the most beautiful girl we've ever seen, even if she happens to be from another tribe." He looked over at the girl's table, his eyes resting on Astrid. "And I think I may have found her. What about you, Hiccup? Is there anyone you have your eye on?"

Hiccup didn't answer, as he was still watching the girls in astonishment. Sighing, seeing as his silly cousin wasn't going to defend himself, Snotlout answered for him.

"As a matter of fact, Belchus," he said, with slight venom in his voice, "Hiccup is going out with Astrid. Ever since the whole dragon thing, actually."

He looked to see the look of rage and defeat on Belchus's face, and was quite disappointed when it never came. Belchus didn't show emotions.

Eventually the yelling and screaming at the girl's table died down and Astrid and Ruffnut got up. Then, ignoring the fact that all the adults gasped at them, they _sat down at the boy's table!_ Hiccup, Snotlout, and Fishlegs nodded at them in greeting, while Belchus, Sandy, Noseferatu, and Sharkfeet stared in shock at them.

Both girls sat down next to Hiccup, Astrid pressing right up against him, while Ruffnut looked around, confused. Then she turned to her friends from Berk.

"Where's my stupid brother?" she asked.

"He went to go throw up," Fishlegs answered, casting a glare at Sandy, who shrugged.

"Oh," she sounded like she didn't care all that much and she didn't ask why.

**Okay, I'm gonna end it right there before I just start rambling and making it bad. So yeah. Sandy is a perv who wants to bang Ruffnut. Clearly, her brother does not approve. And Cake has a crush on Snotlout! Who saw that one coming? And clearly I had to have more conflict between Hiccup and Belchus than just Belchus being freakishly tall (he's taller than Stoic.) I think the next challenge will come next chapter, but until then, R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I hope y'all liked the last chapter! Apparently you did! So I'm going to write the next chapter now! Yay! The next challenge appears today! What will it be? Who knows? Not me, that's for sure! Okay, let's get this over with so I can go back to weeping in the corner.**

CHAPTER 4 – Some Things are Better Left Not Even Being Thought

Hiccup woke up early the next morning and saw that he was not the only one awake. Tuffnut's sleeping bag was empty, and he was nowhere to be seen. But as Hiccup started to wonder where he was, the tent flap opened and Tuffnut came in.

"Hey! You're awake!" Tuffnut exclaimed.

"Where were you?" Hiccup wondered.

"I was talking to Stoic," he replied, "I was hoping he would give me a hint as to what the next challenge would be so we could prepare."

"And?"

He shook his head. "Nothing," he replied.

Hiccup sighed. "Well, we'll find out soon enough," he said, "Come on. Let's wake the others."

As soon as everyone was awake they followed Stoic, Stench, Slackjaw, and the Kreb kids out into the woods. They passed the giant tree of the first challenge and went even deeper into the woods than that. Deeper and deeper they went until the sun was blocked out by the thick trees and they could hardly see anything.

"Where are we going?" Snotlout asked at last.

Slackjaw laughed crazily. "You'll see soon enough," he cackled. The kids looked at each other doubtfully, but said no more.

Eventually they came to a rise in the pass and sunshine seeped through the trees. Finally they stopped and Slackjaw pointed to a huge mountain in the distance. "You see that mountain over there?" he asked.

"How can you not see it?" Snotlout muttered.

"You're goal, starting from right here, is to get to the top where the two chiefs and I will be waiting," Slackjaw explained. He pressed two of his fingers together and whistled. His terrifying dragon immediately came out of nowhere and swooped the two chiefs and Slackjaw up to take them to the mountain.

"Wait!" Fishlegs called, "I had a question!" But they were already specks in the distance.

"Well," Hiccup said to his friends, "I guess we better get going." But before he could take even one step, Belchus shoved him out of the way and sent him to the ground.

"Okay, Kreb," he said in a loud voice, "Follow me. I will lead us to victory."

"Yes," Sandy said, "Because you did such a good job-"

"-With that last challenge," Mandy finished.

"Oh great," Tuffnut muttered to his sister, "Not only do they speak in unison, they also finish each other's sentences."

"How annoying," Ruffnut agreed.

Belchus glared at Sandy and Mandy. "I am the future leader of this tribe," he growled at them, "And you will do as I say. Now let's go!" With that, he led the Kreb kids away down the hill towards the mountain.

Hiccup stared after them before turning to his friends. Snotlout gave him a look that said, "You order us around like that, and I'll break your leg."

"Come on," Hiccup said, "Let's go."

They started down the hill after the Kreb kids, taking extreme care not to trip and tumble down the rest of the way. The hill was very steep, and this was very hard to do. By the time they were at the bottom, the trees had swallowed up the sun again, and the Kreb kids were nowhere to be seen at all.

Picking a direction that he hoped was the right way, Hiccup strode off into the trees with the others following him. Astrid walked along side him with the twins just behind. Fishlegs walked nervously behind, and Snotlout brought up the rear. Occasionally they saw glowing eyes from the bushes, or hear a snicker, but they met nothing.

Astrid pressed against Hiccup and shivered. "There's something weird about this place," she said.

"I feel it too," Hiccup muttered. He knew something was watching them, but he didn't know what. The trees blocked out the sun and only the faint glow of strange mushrooms gave them any light. It was eerie.

"I don't know about this," Fishlegs murmured, "This place is really creepy. Like it's setting us up for something."

"Really?" Hiccup hissed, "A challenge thought up of by Slackjaw? And you think he's setting us up for something?" He glared at him. All of Berk knew how dangerous Slackjaw was. He didn't look like it, but he was clever, mean, and ruthless. He wanted Hiccup dead, and he wouldn't stop until he succeeded.

Fishlegs muttered something and looked down at the ground.

The group continued on in silence. The strange snickering continued all around them, and seemed to get louder and louder. Snotlout cursed under his breath.

"What is that?" he wondered, "Is it even human?"

"I don't think so," Astrid replied. "Or they're really weird people."

"I wish that snickering would stop," Tuffnut muttered, pressing against his sister.

Suddenly they heard a loud twang! And an arrow flew past Hiccup's face, just barely missing him. It burrowed into a tree and started to sizzle. Hiccup's eyes widened.

"Those arrows are poisoned!" he gasped, and suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked down and saw an arrow in his side. Sighing, he collapsed to the ground.

"Hiccup!" Astrid called, before she, too, was shot with an arrow. One by one, each of them were shot, and one by one they all fell to the ground.

…

…

…

When Hiccup woke up, he couldn't move. It wasn't because he was paralyzed, he quickly realized, but because he was tied to a tree. He saw that his friends were also tied to the tree, with Tuffnut, Astrid, and Fishlegs on one side of him, and Ruffnut and Snotlout on the other. He heard whispering and snickering and looked around. Strange masked people stared at them, and one reached out a hand poked Hiccup.

"He is awake!" A very feminine voice gasped. All around her the other masked people inched closer to get a better look.

Hiccup held his breath, and felt the twins stir beside him. He heard Ruffnut groan, but he dared not to look at her. Then he heard Tuffnut gasp as he woke and saw the strange masked people too.

"Now three are awake!" the girl voice exclaimed, happily. The other masked people clapped their hands joyfully.

"Where are we?" Ruffnut muttered so only her brother and Hiccup could hear, "And who are those people?"

"I don't know," Hiccup replied, "What happened? Weren't we shot with arrows?"

"Yes! You were!" the girl voice answered, "Poison arrows! But we saved you."

"Oh, um, thanks," Hiccup said, "Who are you?"

"Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Thorn." And the girl took off her mask and Hiccup and Tuffnut gasped.

She was a gorgeous girl, tall, with long brown hair, red lips, and the greenest eyes ever. She batted her eyelashes at them and made the boys' hearts soar. Already Ruffnut didn't like her. She stepped closer to them.

"So," she said, "Who are you?"

"Um, I'm Hiccup," the boy replied, "These are my friends. The twins, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, Astrid, Snotlout, and Fishlegs." He tried to gesture to them, but that was hard to do since he was tied to a tree.

"Is there any particular reason why we're tied to a tree?" Ruffnut asked Thorn.

"Oh, that's to keep you from writhing," Thorn replied, "When you guys were shot, you wouldn't stop writhing. So we had to tie you up so we could inject the antidote."

"Well, thank you," Hiccup said in a very sincere voice, "But would care to untie us? We're in the middle of a challenge."

"Why, of course," Thorn said, "Guys! Cut them loose!"

There was a loud snap! And Hiccup, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and the others fell to the ground. Immediately they went over to their unconscious friends and slung them up on their shoulders, all three of them supporting Fishlegs.

"Thank you for rescuing us," Hiccup told Thorn, before they turned and plunged into the forest. As soon as they were a good distance away, they stopped and set their companions on the ground and Tuffnut started kicking Fishlegs to wake him up.

"Well, it's good that we're not dead," Ruffnut sighed, "But now we have no idea where we are now. We're totally lost."

"Yeah," Tuffnut agreed, "And these lumps won't wake up."

Hiccup ignored Tuffnut and turned to his sister. "We don't have to be lost," he told her, "One of us who is not me, just has to climb a tree and see where the mountain is."

"I say Ruffnut should go," her loyal brother chimed.

She sighed. "Fine, I'll go." Then, muttering to herself, she leaped into the nearest tree.

Hiccup watched. "I wish I could do that," he said to himself.

"What?" Tuffnut asked, "Climb trees? Yeah, you're pretty pathetic."

"No," Hiccup growled at him, "I meant just leap into a tree as if it were nothing. And I can climb trees just fine, thank you very much." Then he muttered, "It's the getting down part that gives me trouble."

They stood in silence as they waited for Ruffnut to come back down. Tired of kicking Fishlegs, because clearly he wasn't waking up, Tuffnut slid to the ground. Hiccup walked over and sat down next to him.

Tuffnut sighed after a while. "That Sandy," he muttered, "If he thinks he can woo my sister, he's got another thing coming." He was mostly talking to himself, but Hiccup smiled. Tuffnut and Ruffnut tried to act like they didn't care about each other, but Hiccup knew that they loved one another in a way only siblings could.

"He doesn't really seem like her type anyway," Hiccup added helpfully.

Tuffnut snickered. "Yeah," he said, "She wouldn't fall for a disgusting guy like him. I bet he and his sister don't even clean their rooms."

Hiccup would have liked to point out that both his and Ruffnut's rooms looked like junkyards from Hell, but decided not to. Instead he opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a shout from Ruffnut.

"I've got it!" she called. She climbed down the tree and landed in front of the boys. "The mountain is that way," she told them. She helped them to their feet and they continued onward.

Eventually Astrid and Fishlegs woke up and they were left pulling Snotlout along by his legs. Finally they got to the base of the mountain and stared up at it.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Kreb was already up there," Fishlegs groaned, "Who knows how long we took just to get here?"

"Think positive," Astrid said, "They could've gotten lost."

That hope was immediately destroyed when they heard snickering above them and they looked up. On the path just above them, the Kreb kids were staring down at them. It was Sandy and Mandy who had snickered.

"Thank goodness," Mandy sneered, "We thought you guys had gotten lost. It's a good thing you're okay." Then she winked at the boys flirtatiously.

Growling, Astrid bent over and took off her shoe. Then, as the group leaned over and laughed at the pathetic Berk kids, she chucked her boot up at Mandy. It hit her square in the forehead and she tumbled from the mountainside all the way down to Berk.

"Ow!" she exclaimed.

Up the mountain, Sandy shrugged. "Let's just leave her," he said. Then the remaining Kreb kids stood and continued up the trail.

"Hey, wait guys!" Mandy called, standing and racing to the cliff edge, "You can't just leave me here!" But she received no answer. Sighing, she turned to the Berk kids and saw that they were already heading up the winding trail towards the top of the mountain, dragging Snotlout behind them. She stared after them for a moment before racing after them. "Hey!" she shouted, "Wait for me!"

…

Progress was extremely slow, and Mandy's whining didn't help. As they climbed, it got colder and colder, and eventually started to snow. Snotlout still didn't wake up; they just dragged him along by his legs as he wore a pleasant smile on his face. Mandy walked beside Tuffnut and complained in his ear. Hiccup took the lead, wishing Toothless were there to shield them from the wind. Astrid pressed against him, shivering. Fishlegs was greatly regretting not wearing a coat or something with longer sleeves, and the twins took the end, dragging Snotlout on the ground. They pressed together, trying to keep warm.

"Wow," Mandy said, observing the twins, "You two seem really close. I mean not that I'm not close with Sandy, but still."

"Yes," Ruffnut growled, "And that's why he ditched you. Yes, you seem very close." Tuffnut snickered in agreement.

Mandy sneered at her, but thankfully that stopped her from talking. For the next half an hour the group walked on in silence. They stopped once to switch who was dragging Snotlout (Hiccup and Astrid) and that was all. Eventually, the snow cleared up and they could see the top of the mountain. Kreb was already there.

Grumbling, they continued up the mountain, and when they reached the top, they heard Slackjaw explaining something.

"You see, you only win if the entire group is here," Slackjaw told the Kreb kids.

"So that means we win?" Fishlegs asked, excitedly.

"No," Slackjaw replied.

"Why not?"

The vulture man pointed at the dozing Snotlout. "Everyone has to be conscious," he said, "He is not. So you don't win."

As he explained this, Mandy separated from the group and marched over to Sandy. As he opened his mouth to greet her, she punched him in the jaw, knocking to the ground.

"Thanks a lot for waiting for me," she growled at him.

"Now Kreb wins," Slackjaw sneered. Sighing with frustration, Berk groaned and slunk to the ground while Kreb celebrated their victory.

**I know, not the best chapter ending ever, but hey, Berk can't win every challenge. And just to answer the question I know will be asked, yes, Thorn will return, and yes, Hiccup and Tuffnut have a big time crush on her. Which makes Ruffnut really mad.**

**Next chapter will slow things down for the kids (pfft, yeah right!) and we'll see whether Ruffnut really will go for Sandy or not.**

**Also, when Snotlout finally woke up Astrid punched his lights out, knocking him out again, angry that he had cost them the challenge. Stupid Snotlout!**

**P.S. You'll find that bad things keep happening to Mandy and Cake, but there's one major difference between them: you're supposed to feel sorry for Cake. You're supposed to laugh at Mandy.**


	5. Chapter 5

**It's dance time! That's right! Today Berk and Kreb attend an "Optional-But-Not-Really Get-to-know-each-other" dance! It's optional for them to go to, but not really!**

**Sandy hits on Ruffnut today, and Tuffnut does not approve. How will that work out? Read and find out!**

**Chapter 5 – Ballad of the Nightingale and Ring Around the Posy**

The next morning promised to be filled with warm sunlight, fresh air, and a brand new out look on life. But the Berk kids didn't care. After the other day's long hike, all the kids wanted to do was sleep. Even Astrid and Ruffnut couldn't make it back to their own tent, so they just collapsed in the boy's tent and slept the day away.

It wasn't until late afternoon when they were rudely awakened. Stoic poked his head in and called to them. "Wake up, kids! It's time to get ready!" He was met with a chorus of groans.

"Get ready for what?" Hiccup moaned.

"Why the dance, of course!" Stoic laughed, "You six are special guests! Now get up."

The kids looked at each other for a moment, and then at Stoic, then laid back down. Stoic sighed, and went into the tent, pulling each of them out. He carried them out of the tent and set them on their feet outside.

"Now get dressed," Stoic commanded, "And try to wear something nice."

Groaning, the kids did as they were told. They changed into their best clothes, (which for some of them wasn't much) and followed Stoic to the great hall where the dance was taking place.

Inside the place had completely reformed. Only one table had not been swept aside, and that was for refreshments. People from both tribes were dancing with each other, and several looked like they had hit the ale a little early. A live band played, and people were eating their faces out. Already the Berk kids knew they were going to hate this.

Snotlout turned to Astrid. "So, babe, you wanna dance?" he asked her.

Astrid looked at him. "No," she replied, simply.

The rejected boy frowned. "Um, that's okay, I didn't want to dance anyway." He muttered, dejectedly.

Tuffnut turned to the group. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but _I'm_ hitting the food table," he told them, "Later." Then he shuffled off towards the table.

"Wait for me!" Fishlegs called, running after him.

Eagerly, Snotlout looked to Ruffnut. "_You _wanna dance with me?" he asked.

Instead of a response, Ruffnut burst into laughter and walked away, getting lost into the huge crowd of Vikings.

Hiccup leaned over to his cousin. "I think that means 'no,'" he said.

"Ya think?" Snotlout growled. "Whatever. I'm out of here. I'm gonna pick up girls. Later loser and hottie." He clicked his tongue at Astrid and walked away.

"Remind me when I see him again to punch him for that," Astrid said to Hiccup, "Come on, let's go see what there is to do besides eat and dance."

"And get drunk," Hiccup noted, spying his father who had a huge jug of ale and was swigging it down while a big crowd of people chanted "Chug! Chug! Chug!"

As it turned out, Hiccup and Astrid had a lot more fun than they thought they would. They mixed random things into the punch and watched people's reactions when they took a sip. They filled buckets with ale and splashed them on the adults. They found a slingshot and started shooting Kreb Vikings with peanuts. They had a fun time making mischief. The one thing they didn't do was dance.

When they were done causing mayhem they regrouped with the others at the refreshments table. Fishlegs had a giant plate of food, and Tuffnut was helping him shove things down his throat. Snotlout was attempting to hit on a Kreb girl, who splashed him in the face with her drink. And Ruffnut was leaning against the table, picking her teeth. None of them had danced at all that night.

"Hey," Snotlout said to them, "Look at the losers from Kreb standing over there! I bet none of them have even danced yet."

"None of us have danced yet," Hiccup pointed out.

"Yes," his cousin replied, "But we do so with style."

As he spoke, Gobber hobbled over, leaning on a very intoxicated Clobber. "What's this I hear," he said, "I thought I heard ye say ye didn't dance yet."

"We haven't, sir," Hiccup replied, politely.

"And we don't plan to," Astrid added.

"Why not?" Gobber asked.

"We're still coming up with a good excuse," Tuffnut answered, boredly.

Frowning, Gobber picked him up by the back of his shirt and threw him over his shoulder. Then he picked up the rest of the kids in a similar fashion and limped over to where the Kreb kids stood before setting them down.

"Here," he said, "Dance with them." Then he and the drunk Clobber hobbled away.

Before anyone could say anything at all, Mandy squealed with delight, grabbed Tuffnut's arm and dragged him out to the dance floor, while the others stared in surprise. Ruffnut stared with fascinated surprise as Mandy crushed her brother in her arms.

"Huh, why would anyone want to dance with my brother?" she wondered.

Sandy stepped forward and offered his hand to her. "Excuse me, dear," he said, "May I trouble you for a dance?"

Ruffnut blushed. "Um, okay," she murmured, taking his hand. He led her out as the others stared in surprise.

"What makes him so special?" Snotlout growled.

Astrid opened her mouth to reply, when a large shadow loomed over her. Belchus towered above her, looking down at her.

"In my tribe it is customary for the chief's heir's first dance of the night to be with the most beautiful girl of the opposite tribe," he told her, "You would not wish to break customs, would you?"

"Er, I guess," Astrid muttered, quite intimidated.

As Belchus led her out to the dance floor, Snotlout's jaw dropped. "How come I can't get Astrid to dance with me?" he complained, "Or any girl, for that matter!"

"Because you're not intimidating or aggressive," Fishlegs offered.

"Or funny. Or witty," Hiccup added.

"And now they left us with this little cup cake to dance with," Snotlout added, ignoring them. Cake stared up at him with wide eyes. Snotlout looked at the remaining group. "So, you wanna take turns, or-" he was interrupted when Cake latched herself onto his face. Screaming, and pulling at the girl, Snotlout stumbled out onto the dance floor.

Hiccup, Fishlegs, Noseferatu, and Sharkfeet stared in surprise. As Hiccup watched, Stoic made his way through the crowd of dancers, thrusting apart any couple who were not at arms length. Including Mandy, who was suffocating Tuffnut in her embrace, for which he called out his thanks to his chief. Then Stoic pried Cake off of Snotlout's face and placed her in his hands. And while he did this, he wore a very bored expression. While Hiccup watched, he spotted Sandy and Ruffnut. As he stared, Sandy leaned in and whispered something in Ruffnut's ear, which made her giggle. Hiccup had absolutely no idea why, but this bothered him.

Finally the song ended and all the pairs separated. Gasping, Tuffnut stumbled over to where his friends waited.

"That girl has one heck of an embrace," he panted. Then he looked at them. "Did you dance at all?" he asked.

"No," Fishlegs answered.

"Jerks," Tuffnut muttered.

At that point, Astrid, who was politely thanking Belchus for the dance, came over, grabbed, Hiccup's arm, and dragged him out to the dance floor. Hiccup managed to catch a glimpse of Sandy asking Ruffnut for another dance before Astrid pulled him away.

"When I told Belchus that you and I were together, he didn't believe me," Astrid told him. Hiccup cocked his head.

"Why not?" he wondered.

"He said that we weren't 'hanging out' as much as regular couples do," she replied.

"I disagree with him," Hiccup said, "We did the first challenge together. And we spend a lot of time with each other. I don't know why he would think that. Is that why we're dancing now?"

Astrid smiled. "Partly," she answered. She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss.

The song ended and Astrid and Hiccup headed back to their friends. Snotlout was grumbling to Fishlegs and Tuffnut about how he didn't get to dance with a girl, but Hiccup saw that Tuffnut wasn't listening. He was glaring at something across the room. Hiccup followed his gaze and saw Sandy talking to Ruffnut. He couldn't hear what Sandy was saying, but by the way Ruffnut was smiling and giggling, he could tell he was flattering her. Then, Sandy leaned in and kissed Ruffnut deeply. Hiccup expected her to punch him or something, but she didn't. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it. Surprised, Hiccup glanced back at Tuffnut, who was glaring angrily and seemed to be filling with rage.

"Hey, baby!" Noseferatu said to Astrid, breaking Hiccup out of his thoughts, "You wanna dance with me?"

"No!" Astrid exclaimed, as if insulted that he even asked.

When Hiccup glanced back at Tuffnut, he saw him storming from the hall. The others stared after him. "Hey, man!" Snotlout called, "Where are you going?"

**Someone's over protective of his sister! And a certain sister isn't going to appreciate it! Next chapter, tensions will rise in the group and a sibling fight will ensue. I'm sorry that Slackjaw didn't appear this chapter, but he will in the next one. I think you see how this fanfiction works, all the even numbered chapters is a challenge, and all the odd numbered is a cool down. Also, sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but I ran out of ideas, and I wanted to stop before it got bad. On that note, I have no ideas for the next challenge, so I'm open to suggestions. Remember to R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**New Chapter and new challenge! Hooray! What's better than a chapter where tensions run so high that they spill over the side of the cup? When you add a sibling rivalry to it! That's right! It's feud time, and it's not gonna be pretty! What horrors does Slackjaw have in store for the gang today? Let's find out!**

**P.S. Le gasp! The chapter doesn't start with Hiccup! A conspiracy!**

**Chapter 6 – The Great Angry Dragon Race Thing**

Tuffnut made sure he was awake before everyone else the morning after the dance. He hiked over to the girl's tent and stopped in front of it. He was about to call quietly to Ruffnut, when a shadow loomed over him. Startled, he turned around and saw Sidewinder, his and Ruffnut's Hideous Zippleback. The dragon's two heads stared at him with questioning. Tuffnut sighed and looked at him.

_"You scared me, Sidewinder,"_ he told the dragon, _"What are you doing?"_

_ "I was going to ask you the same," _Sidewinder said.

_"I just want to talk to my sister," _Tuffnut replied, _"Is that a crime?"_ Sometimes it felt to him as if Sidewinder was interrogating him. He turned to the tent and softly called his sister's name. After a few seconds, a tired looking Ruffnut came out and stared at him.

"What do you want, brother?" she hissed, "You better have a pretty good reason for waking me up so early."

"I need to talk to you," he told her.

Sighing, she ducked back into the tent and came back out fully dressed. She tugged on her brother's arm as she passed him. "Let's go," she said.

With Sidewinder right behind them, the twins hiked into the nearby woods. Ruffnut jumped from fallen log to fallen log ever so gracefully, while Tuffnut shuffled along behind her. Eventually, Ruffnut turned to her brother.

"So what do you want?" she asked.

Tuffnut hesitated. He hadn't really thought about exactly what he wanted to say to his sister. Ruffnut was extremely irritable and one wrong word could set her off. Then he would never get her to listen to him. And even when she was calm, she still hardly ever listened to what he had to say.

He took a breath. "I saw you with Sandy yesterday," he began.

"Yeah, so?" she said, cocking her head to braid her hair.

"I also saw what he did," he paused, "He kissed you."

Ruffnut paused in her braiding. "Yes, and it was magical," she growled, "Sparks flew and beautiful dragons flew over head. What's your point?"

Tuffnut stared at her. She really didn't see it? How wrong this was? Sandy was from Kreb! He was their enemy! Not only that, he knew Sandy just wanted to take advantage of her. Couldn't she that?

"Ruffnut," he growled, "He's using you! Can't you see that?"

Suddenly, she stopped. She stood and walked up to her brother and glared at him darkly. "Now listen here, _brother,_" she spat, "What I do with my life is none of your business. I'll kiss who ever I want, and you'll have no say in it. Understand?"

Without giving him any time to respond, she roughly pushed past him and stormed back to camp. Sighing with frustration Tuffnut and Sidewinder followed her back.

…

Back at camp, the others were just waking up. Hiccup came out of the tent just in time to see Tuffnut and Ruffnut storm back into camp. He was about to greet them, when Tuffnut grabbed his arm and pulled him aside.

"I need your help," Tuffnut told him, as he rubbed his arm, "I think Ruffnut has fallen for Sandy. Can you believe it? I need you to help me show her that he's just going to take advantage of her."

"I thought you said you didn't care about your sister," Hiccup pointed out, "And why do you want my help, anyway? Why not ask Snotlout or something?"

Tuffnut scoffed at the suggestion. "Because she actually likes you," he replied.

Hiccup stared at him. "She does?" he wondered, surprised. Ruffnut had never really shown any emotion towards him except apathy.

Tuffnut sighed. "Yes!" he explained, "She's had this huge mad crush on you even before the whole dragon thing and you started becoming popular! She's madly in love with you!"

Hiccup stared at him in surprise, and a strange look of puzzlement crossed Tuffnut's face.

"Of course," he continued, "Now that I think about it, she told me _not_ to tell you that." He looked at the surprised Hiccup. "You didn't here that from me," he warned.

Hiccup shook his head and sighed. "Okay, fine, I'll help," he said.

Tuffnut smiled. "Thanks, Hiccup," he said.

They went back to the group where Slackjaw the Oh-So-Terrifying was gathering everyone. He shuffled up to them and stood in front of Hiccup.

"I have a special treat for you kiddies today," he hissed, "Today is a challenge I actually sat and thought of for rules and stuff."

"You mean you were making the others up as you went along?" Snotlout wondered.

"Quiet, boy!" the man snapped, "Slackjaw is speaking! And because I just referred to myself in the third person, that automatically makes me a bad guy!"

Everyone stared at him blankly.

"Anyhow, I will now explain the challenge to you small children and you not-so-small children, and I am only going to say them once, so pay close attention to the words that will be coming out of my mouth after I have finished this sentence."

Hiccup tried not to roll his eyes. Slackjaw had lost his train of thought, easily recognizable by his long, convoluted sentences, and the fact that his hands were just sort of wandering around open space and to Hiccup's face.

"This challenge is called the Great Angry Dragon Race… thing…" Slackjaw's voice drifted off slightly. "The rules are simple. You will be racing in the lake that is in the middle of this island. Using your dragons as swimming mounts, you will race around the perimeter of the lake three times while dodging treacherous obstacles and yer rivals. First one back without drowning wins. Oh, and your dragons must be swimming, NO flying! Ya get me? Good! Let's go!" With that, he turned and started leading everyone towards the lake.

Toothless padded beside Hiccup, glancing over his shoulder at Sharpteeth the white Night Fury. Now that Hiccup actually looked at him, he could see a bright scar across his right eye. He had never noticed that before. When Sharpteeth saw Hiccup staring at him, he growled and Hiccup immediately turned around again.

Eventually they reached the lake and saw how big it was. A whole bunch of adults were gathered to watch the race, and a lot of them were already getting really drunk. Lots of dragons were also gathered. The group separated to go find their dragons. Sidewinder immediately bent down to allow their masters to get on them. Horrorcow the Gronckle tackled Fishlegs and started licking him all over. Astrid's Deadly Nadder, Stormfly calmly walked up to her and allowed her to get on. The Monstrous Nightmare, Fireworm flew over to Snotlout and landed in front of him, trying to look all graceful.

Then Hiccup noticed Kreb's dragons. Belchus was on Sharpteeth, of course. The huge Sharkfeet was walking up to a very vicious looking Deadly Nadder, who was twice the size of Stormfly. He heard Sharkfeet call the dragon Killer, which Hiccup thought was very appropriate. Cake waddled up to a really fat Terrible Terror. The thing was bigger than average, but Hiccup knew it couldn't fly, due to its massive weight. At one point he heard her call the Terror "Pickles." Noseferatu was riding a dragon he called Monster, which Hiccup recognized to be a dragon called a Scary Nightmare, which was a cousin of the Monstrous Nightmare. Except Scary Nightmares weren't all that scary, especially this one, which was smiling like crazy. Then there were the twins, Sandy and Mandy, who, just like Tuffnut and Ruffnut, had a Hideous Zippleback. It looked very pleased with itself, and the two heads were raised to their full length.

Hiccup felt someone brush up next to him and heard Tuffnut. "Jeez, look at that ugly thing," he muttered, "I wonder what its name is."

Then Sandy sidled up to the two and put an arm around their shoulders as Mandy saddled up. "Pretty impressive dragon, huh?" Sandy said, "I think Ugly Butt will win this hands down, no problem."

Hiccup and Tuffnut looked at each other and then at Sandy.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup said, "You named your dragon Ugly Butt?"

"Yup," Sandy replied, proudly. He nudged Tuffnut hard in the ribs. "Ugly Butt sure puts the 'hideous' _back_ in 'Hideous Zippleback,' huh?" He let out a laugh at his un-clever joke.

"Shut up," Tuffnut growled.

Slackjaw shuffled into the middle of the clearing and pulled out a sword and a big metal shield and started banging on it to get everyone's attention. As soon as Stoic noticed, he tackled Slackjaw and yanked the weapons out of his hands.

"Who let him have these?" he demanded.

"Everyone to the starting line, now!" Slackjaw shouted.

The kids all mounted their dragons and headed to the docks. Cake's dragon, Pickles waddled over with much difficulty. Monster the Scary Nightmare seemed to skip over to the docks. As Sharkfeet and Killer passed Astrid and Stormfly, they roughly shoved them aside. Toothless padded over and helped the dragon get back up.

The dragons lined up in this order on the long narrow dock: Pickles, Horrorcow, Monster, Toothless, Sharpteeth, Stormfly, Ugly Butt, Sidewinder, Killer, Fireworm. Sharpteeth turned his blood red eye to Toothless and blinked at him.

_"Good Luck,"_ he told him.

Toothless blinked once. _"Good luck to you too,"_ he said.

"Everyone get ready!" Slackjaw hacked, "Remember: three laps, and no flying! May the best dragon win!"

Every dragon lowered itself, preparing to dive.

"On your marks, get set, GO!"

As soon as the words left Slackjaw's mouth, Pickles laid down and instantly fell asleep. Killer bucked up, throwing Sharkfeet from his back before diving into the water, (and after shoving everyone down.) As soon as Horrorcow dived in, she and Fishlegs sank like a rock into the water. Monster casually lowered himself into the water and started happily paddling along, unaware of Noseferatu's shouts. Toothless and Sharpteeth dived in, shoulder to shoulder, trying to outdo each other. Stormfly dive bombed in, determined to get the better of Killer. After shoving Sidewinder out of the way, Ugly Butt dived into the water and was off like a rocket. Growling, Sidewinder lunged in and blasted off, using his tail like a propeller to quickly gain speed. Fireworm leaped into the air, did a summersault, then dived into the water, getting Snotlout soaking wet. All of this happened at the exact moment of "Go."

Killer instantly took the lead, with Stormfly and Toothless right behind. On Toothless's tail was Sharpteeth, snapping at him. Like a dart, he sped past Toothless and then Stormfly. Astrid spat at them.

"We can't let that go!" she growled. She patted Stormfly who nodded. She stretched out her neck and gained speed until she was catching up with Sharpteeth. Toothless growled and shoved his wings into the water started flapping them to speed up. Not flying, just swimming.

Back near the start, Horrorcow managed to climb out of the water, and sat on shore, shivering. At Fishlegs's urging, she dived back into the water, this time managing to stay afloat. Cake had gotten off of Pickles and was shoving him, desperately trying to wake him up. The little dragon merely yawned and went into a deeper sleep. Monster had flipped onto his back, thrusting Noseferatu under water. He was having a grand old time!

Sidewinder and Ugly Butt were neck in neck with each other. Ugly Butt, looking very smug with itself, splashed water in Sidewinder's face. Growling, Sidewinder scooped his claws under water and ran them in the mud. Then he quickly thrust them out, flinging mud in one of Ugly Butt's head's eyes. Ugly Butt roared and veered sharply, crashing into shore.

Sidewinder had caught up to Toothless and Stormfly. With a great heave, the three raced past Sharpteeth all at once and gained on Killer. Meanwhile, Killer leapt over the docks for his second lap. Moment s later, Toothless, Stormfly, and Sidewinder did the same. On the second lap, Slackjaw had shoved a whole bunch of debris into the water. Killer easily dodged it all, while the three dragons behind him gasped and crashed into every single obstacle. And Sharpteeth was gaining.

The third lap was the knock out. Killer was slowing down, and Stormfly was gaining. Both being Deadly Nadders, the two were determined to beat each other. Stormfly stretched out her neck, desperately trying to pass Killer. There was the finish line! She could hear the Vikings of Berk edging her on. Killer was right next to her, huffing in the effort to pass her. Then, at the last moment, Killer lashed out his wing, jabbing Stormfly in the side, and slowing her long enough for him to pass her. She passed the finish line one tiny moment after him and all of Kreb cheered. Berk booed at them.

Slackjaw waited for all of the dragons to get back before he shuffled into the middle of them to announce the winner. "The winner of this race," he said, "is Berk."

"What?" Stench growled as Berk cheered. He marched over to Slackjaw and lifted him off his feet. "Are you blind? Killer clearly passed the finish line first!"

"I can see just fine," Slackjaw retorted, "And I could see that through the entire race Killer did not have his master riding him. What's-his-name was here the entire time, not racing. Therefore, it does not count, and What's-its-face from Berk passed the finish line first. Berk wins. That was _your_ rule, Stench."

Stench glared as Berk cheered louder. Astrid patted Stormfly on her side. "Good job, girl," she said.

_"There was no way I would let anyone really pass me," _Stormfly said, _"If Killer hadn't jabbed me, I would have passed the finish line before him. No one can out race me!"_

_ "Eh, I just went easy on you because we're on the same team," _Toothless joked, _"I just wanted you to have some glory. I could've won easily."_

_"Sure you could,"_ Stormfly jeered.

"Come on, guys!" Snotlout called, "Let's go celebrate!" And the six kids, plus their dragons, and Stoic and Gobber walked away, laughing. Kreb and Slackjaw remained behind, glaring after them.

**Oh boy! That was thrilling! I would like to thank Nightfury58 for the basic idea of this challenge. I tweaked it a little, but the basic idea was his idea. I would've never thought of it. So thanks!**

**Anyway, wow! Tuffnut is sure bad at keeping secrets, ain't he? Just like in my other fan fiction, **_**How to be Banished.**_** But now Hiccup knows about Ruffnut's "secret" crush on him! How are Tuffnut and Hiccup planning on breaking up Ruff and Sandy? Well, you'll just have to read and find out, now won't you?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey! I just want to fix a mistake I made a few chapters back. Cake is not Hazel! That was a typo on my part! Cake is in no way related to Hazel. And for those of you who have been asking, yes, we are eventually gonna learn Cake's real name. At first I wasn't going to, but then I actually thought of a name. It's kind of long. It's Kinky Smink Kilimanjaro, but not really. You'll just have to wait.**

**Anyway, this is one of those in between chapters, and I have nothing planned, but I do have something big planned for the next two or three chapters after this one, so I gotta update. If this was an acting club, this would be improv night. But, we do have a returning guest!**

**Chapter 7 – Once Upon a Fat Chance**

All was well the next day after the race. Berk was in a good mood after winning, and Tuffnut had almost forgotten all about his sister's betrayal. Almost. And then Snotlout got the oh-so brilliant idea of lighting a fire inside the tent, which caused it to burn down. So Hiccup, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, and Snotlout had to go over to Ruffnut and Astrid's tent and beg them to let them stay with them. They agreed, but reluctantly.

As the boys started rolling out their sleeping bags, Ruffnut sighed. "Well Astrid," she said, "It looks like we'll actually have to start wearing a shirt to bed."

Astrid nodded. "Bummer," she replied.

All the boys paused awkwardly, except Tuffnut who was nodding as if saying, "Yup. Same junk as always." Snotlout turned to the girls.

"You don't have to start wearing shirts on my account," he said, waving his eye brows. The two girls stared at him.

"Ew," was Astrid's only reply.

That night the sleeping arrangements were all set up. Tuffnut and Ruffnut slept back to back, Astrid slept next to Hiccup, squeezing him in her embrace. Snotlout and Fishlegs slept separately, Snotlout near the flap of the tent, Fishlegs in the back. That night, Hiccup lay awake while everyone slept. He stared at the flap leading out of the tent. He heard pitter patters on the tent as it started to rain. Then there was the low rumbling of thunder. And then lightning lit everything up. Hiccup blinked as he thought he saw a strange figure in the shadows of the tent. Then he shook his head. Probably just a trick from the storm.

Then lighting flashed again. There it was. Standing just beyond the tent entrance. A dark, skinny figure holding a knife. Hiccup half expected its eyes to burn right through the tent and glare at him. Shivering, he pressed his face into Astrid's back, who, deep in sleep, smiled. Hiccup didn't sleep one wink all night.

When he opened his eyes in the morning, it took him a moment to fully process what he was seeing. The wild masked girl, Thorn, (you know, who they met a few chapters ago?) was sitting in the middle of the tent, staring down at him and smiling.

"Good morning!" she greeted him, cheerfully. Hiccup gasped and sat up. He quickly leaned over and shook Tuffnut and Ruffnut awake.

"What?" Tuffnut muttered as he and his sister slowly woke up. As soon as he saw Thorn, he sat up, smoothing down his hair and putting his helmet on. Ruffnut merely blinked up at her, then rolled over to return to sleep.

"What's she doing here?" Ruffnut nearly spat the sentence out, showing her clear disdain for the girl who saved their lives.

"I just wanted to make sure you all made it back to your camp site all right," Thorn explained, still smiling. "I'm glad to see you have."

At that moment Astrid stirred beside Hiccup. She opened her eyes and sat up, staring at Thorn, taking a moment or two for her half asleep mind to tell her what she was seeing.

"Hiccup," she said, "Why is there some girl I've never seen before sitting in the middle of our tent?" She blinked her sleepy eyes several times at him.

Hiccup opened his mouth to reply, but as soon as Snotlout heard the word "girl," he sat bolt upright. "Did I hear that there's a girl in our tent?" he asked. Then he spied Thorn, who had turned to smile at him. "Hey," he said, in a smooth voice, "The name's Snotlout. And you are pretty."

Thorn giggled. "Thank you," she replied, "My name is Thorn. Me and my tribe helped you when you guys were shot by those arrows. You know, when you were climbing the mountain?"

"Oh yes," Snotlout said, "I think you would really-" He was cut off when Tuffnut nudged him hard in the ribs, causing him to fall to the ground. Thorn giggled.

Stoick stuck his head in. "Hey, kids, time to get up!" he announced.

"Why?" Ruffnut muttered, "We don't have a contest today."

"Yeah, but the adults do!" Stoick laughed.

They woke up Fishlegs and forced Ruffnut to get up, and then the seven kids headed towards the dining hall. They took a seat at an empty table, with Thorn sitting between Hiccup and Tuffnut. Astrid tried not to glare at her as Thorn told the others about her masked tribe. No one was really listening, they were too distracted.

Hiccup shook his head to clear it, and stood up. He walked over to his father and tapped him on the shoulder. Stoick turned and smiled at him. "Hey son!" he greeted, "Look at this! Baggybum is gonna give me ten pieces o' gold to drink this entire jug of ale in ten seconds!"

Hiccup stared at him. "Terrific," he muttered, "Say, dad, can I ask for your advice?"

"Sure son, anything!" Stoick replied, happily.

"What are you supposed to do when two girls have a crush on you, and you already have a girl friend, plus a crush on two others?" Hiccup wondered. He hoped his father could give him some direction. Ever since Tuffnut had told him about his sister, it was eating at him.

Unfortunately, Stoick stared at him blankly. "Um," he said, "Did you try putting a bag over their heads?" he asked his son.

Now Hiccup stared blankly. "How would that help?" he wondered.

Stoick shrugged. "I don't know," he confessed, "But anyway, since you're here, let me tell ya about the challenge us adults have to do."

"Wait," Hiccup stated, "You get to know about your challenges before hand?"

"Yup!" Stoick answered, proudly, "Me, Gobber, and your stupid, I mean silly, I mean dorky, I mean LITTLE friends' parents are all one team."

Hiccup knew about his friends' parents. Baggybum the Beer Belly, Stoick's right hand man, was Snotlout's father. He was cocky and arrogant, which he obviously passed on to his son. Fishlegs's parents, Fisharms (his father) and Snakelegs (his mother) were big and jolly. Astrid lived alone with her mother, Nova, who liked to get drunk with Baggybum a lot. Both of Tuffnut and Ruffnut's parents were twins. Their father, who liked to call himself Dogfang, had a sister who was married and had a daughter who was older than the twins. Their mother, (insert random letters and symbols here) AKA Catscratch had a brother who was also married and had a son who was younger than the twins.** (A/N: Please don't ask me where I came up with these names. I have no idea.)**

"So anyway," Stoick continued, "Gobber, Baggybum, Nova, Fisharms, Snakelegs, Dogfang, Catscratch, and I are facing Stench, Clobber, and the parents of their Vikings in training."

"Sounds great, dad," Hiccup muttered, wanting to get back to his friends.

"We have to have some sort of relay race," Stoick continued, "You know, handing the baton off to the next guy?"

"Sure dad," Hiccup said, "Can I-"

"Ho boy! It's gonna be great!" Stoick sighed.

Sighing, Hiccup went back to his friends.

LATER THAT VERY SAME DAY...

Ruffnut was sitting on a boulder, brushing her hair when Hiccup spotted her. She was alone, except for her dragon, Sidewinder. Perfect. Hiccup wanted to speak to her alone. He walked over to her, Toothless by his side (he had insisted on coming with) and sat on the boulder next to her. She made no move to acknowledge his existence.

Hiccup coughed to get her attention. Ruffnut's dark eyes turned to her, but she did not stop brushing. "So," Hiccup began, "Tuffnut tells me you have a crush on me?"

Startled, Ruffnut gasped and fell off the boulder. Hiccup hopped off and helped her back to her feet. She brushed herself off muttering "Damn my brother."

"To his defense he didn't mean to," Hiccup said, "It just sort of slipped out." _And now that _I _think of it, he told me not to tell her he told me. Oh well._

"Yeah," Ruffnut muttered, getting back on the boulder, "I'm gonna kill him."

Hiccup sat next to her. "So… is it true?" he asked.

Ruffnut looked at him, puzzled. "Is what true?" she wondered.

"Do you really have a crush on me?" Hiccup asked, trying not to roll his eyes or sound annoyed.

"Oh! Yes, it's true." Ruffnut gently pressed against him.

_"Told you," _Toothless sneered.

_"You didn't tell me anything,"_ Hiccup scoffed. He turned to say something to Ruffnut, when just then, horns sounded from the camp below. The next contest was about to start. Hardly looking at each other, Hiccup and Ruffnut hopped off the boulder and strode down to the camp.

Many Vikings were entering a large arena that looked to be about a hundred times bigger than the one they had on Berk. Hiccup and Ruffnut followed the adults who were pouring in with Sidewinder and Toothless shoving people out of the way behind them.

_"Toothless,"_ Hiccup growled, _"Stay outside."_

_ "But I want to see your parents screw up!"_ Toothless whined. Hiccup sighed and allowed him to come in. He noticed that Ruffnut didn't scold Sidewinder at all and he felt a little guilty for scowling at Toothless.

When they got into the arena they saw the others waving at them, so they made their way over. Ruffnut walked over to her brother and hit him hard on the head.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, "What was that for?"

"Nothing," Ruffnut muttered, sitting down next to him.

Astrid moved away from where Snotlout was trying to woo her to give Hiccup room to sit next to her. He sat down with a grateful nod as Thorn sat between Snotlout and Fishlegs.

"This is exciting!" Thorn said, happily, "I've never seen a competition before! In my tribe, we never do any competing! Our leader makes us all feel equal! Hey! Are those your parents?" She pointed down into the arena where Stoick and the other adults from Berk were standing next to Slackjaw. Slackjaw himself looked very bored because there was no chance of someone dying in this challenge.

There were loud cheers from the Kreb side as the adults of Kreb walked into the arena. Hiccup sighed with annoyance when he saw that (with the exception of Clobber) all them were tall, muscular, still young, and in shape. And they still had all their limbs.

Berk was way worse. Gobber was missing an arm and a leg. Dogfang and Catscratch hated each other (which made Tuffnut and Ruffnut wonder why they got married in the first place.) Fisharms and Snakelegs were tubby and out of shape. Nova was clearly drunk. The only two who showed any pride were Stoick and Baggybum.

Hiccup didn't really listen as Slackjaw, in a very slow and bored tone, explained the rules of the adults' challenge. He stared across the arena were Belchus, Sharkfeet, Noseferatu, Cake, Sandy, and Mandy were sitting directly across from him and his friends. Belchus sat straight and tall with a solemn expression on his face. Sharkfeet was chewing on the railing. Noseferatu was waving stupidly at them, and Snotlout covered his face with his hand. Cake was staring at the floor, looking like she was about to burst into tears. Sandy was making googly eyes at Ruffnut, who wasn't paying attention. Tuffnut glared at him and Mandy, who was waving flirtatiously at him.

At the sound of the start, the adults lined up at one end of the arena to start the relay race. They had to race to the other end of the arena, one at a time, while doing something ridiculous, then run back to their team and hand the baton off. Then the next one would go. Who ever got all their team mates across and back first won. Luckily, no team had a number advantage, as each team had eight adults on it. Hiccup really didn't want to watch this. He knew their parents would embarrass him and his friends somehow.

So instead, he turned to Astrid to talk to her. "How come the adults don't have to do anything dangerous or life threatening?" Hiccup wondered. "I mean, I know Slackjaw wants to kill me and all, but my dad and Stench were helping him think of challenges. Shouldn't they do something dangerous too?"

Astrid stared at him. "Huh," she said, "I didn't realize that before, but you're right. Why should we, the future of the tribe, have to put our lives on the line because our parents have inflated egos?"

"My dad had me training for this for weeks," Snotlout added, over hearing their conversation, "You know what he did? He sat in a chair, watching me and drinking grog."

"At least you got some training in," Tuffnut growled, "Our parents didn't tell us until the day we left for this stupid island."

"They gave us no warning at all," Ruffnut agreed.

"My parents told me about it," Fishlegs said, "While we were getting ready to take off. Before they told me we were going to some magical island of meat."

"Why would they tell you that?" Thorn asked, very concerned.

"So I wouldn't complain," Fishlegs growled.

"I had to depend on Gobber to tell me," Astrid complained, "My mom was passed out all week."

"And let's not forget," Hiccup added, "They _still_ don't have to do anything life threatening."

Feeling sick, disgusted, and betrayed, the six Vikings and Thorn stood and stormed out of the arena. Several adults gave them confused looks as they passed, but none asked them what was wrong. The teens headed to their tent, and that's where they stayed for the rest of the day. They eventually got news from Toothless (who was laughing so hard he could hardly talk) that Berk had won the relay race, but none of them cared.

**I know, kind of a bitter way to end the chapter, but I was sick of it. For all those of you I know are gonna ask, I refuse to call Snotlout's dad Spitelout. He will **_**always**_** be Baggybum to me.**

**I have no idea what's happening next chapter, because my sister is writing it. We thought it would be fun for one of our fan fictions to have a "guest" chapter, and she chose to write in this one. So you'll have to wait for my big surprise chapters.**

**Anyway, read and review! I'll be typing a chapter of Jellyfish Jam's fan fiction "The Great Dragon Challenge," so if you need me, that's where I'll be. Oh, and working on two new fanfics.**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Guest Chapter**

**Hey peoples. This is not Sir Weston. This is her sister, Jellyfish Jam. We decided to write a guest chapter for each other (don't ask) so I'll be your guide for this chapter. Seeing that I'm the original creator of Slackjaw the Terrifying be assured that he'll be in here a lot. I hope this inconveniences no one. Our writing styles are relatively the same. Anyways, on with the program.**

**Chapter… uh… Whatever: Sometimes Life sucks**

Hiccup lay beside Astrid, wide-awake, but not willing to get up. He wondered if he just lay the long enough, unmoving, he could convince everyone that he was sick and therefore not have to face Slackjaw again. He seriously doubted it. Stoick was never very sympathetic with him.

There was a loud snort from Snotlout as his cousin rolled over in his sleep. Sighing and deciding it was no use; Hiccup sat up and looked around. The others were still fast asleep, with the exception of Fishlegs, who was also wide awake and looking very nervous. Confused, Hiccup slowly made his way over to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a low whisper as to not wake the others. Fishlegs looked over at him.

"It's this whole thing, Hiccup," Fishlegs confessed. "I can't stand it. I want to go home." Hiccup knew how he felt. He wanted to leave this place even before they had got there. "I have no idea why the others thought that this would be a good idea. Those Kreb kids look like they want to kill us."

"Well, it could be worse," Hiccup encouraged. Fishlegs blinked at him.

"How?" he demanded, knowing that Hiccup didn't have an answer. Thankfully he didn't have to answer because at that moment the horn sounded, signaling for everyone to wake up. Grumbling, the vikings-in-training slowly woke and stretched their limbs before climbing out of the tent.

Slackjaw, Stoick, and Stench were waiting for them as they came out. Stoick looked rather sober, as if the three of them had decided something that he wasn't happy with. Slackjaw looked surprisingly chipper, which worried Hiccup deeply. It was never a good sign when Slackjaw was attempting to smile (hard as it was for him).

"You're in for quite the treat today, kiddies," the vulture man told the two groups happily. "This challenge will be particularly dangerous and life threatening." So that's why Stoick looked so upset.

"Great," Snotlout muttered under his breath. "I was just thinking to myself how these challenges weren't life threatening enough." Slackjaw glared at him but didn't speak as he turned and led the way towards the woods. The Vikings all followed with Belchus taking the lead.

They walked for a very long time, with Slackjaw a few feet ahead, muttering to himself and never looking back to see if the two groups were still following. Hiccup had half a mind to try and slip away since he wasn't looking, but he knew that Slackjaw would somehow know if he tried to sneak away. He was also starting to get the feeling that Slackjaw didn't even know where they were going.

"I wonder where we're going!" Noseferatu said happily, skipping up the trail. "I hope it's fun!" Snotlout glared at him, reaching out his hands as if to strangle him, then thought better of it. Mandy turned to look at her fellow Viking.

"The vulture said that this challenge was dangerous," she growled at him. "Why on earth-"

"-Would it be fun?" Sandy finished for her, looking at Noseferatu disapprovingly. Tuffnut rolled his eyes as they spoke, but Ruffnut smiled slightly at Sandy. Ignoring the two of them, Tuffnut started walking faster to stay ahead of them.

"We're awfully far out into the forest," Astrid commented, looking around. "Do you think he even knows where he's going?" Hiccup glanced at her.

"Do you want to ask him?" he asked. Astrid shook her head.

"No thanks," she replied.

Thankfully, however, they eventually made their way up to the side of a steep cliff overlooking the ocean. There were a couple of tents nearby that Slackjaw ordered them to go into and change into swim suits. When they all came back out, dressed for swimming, the first thing a lot of them noticed was how extremely muscular Belchus was. Sharkfeet wasn't nearly as muscular, but just as intimidating. Tuffnut noticed with annoyance that even Sandy had a few arm muscles, while Noseferatu had every bone in his body showing.

Berk, on the other hand, was not nearly as impressive looking. Snotlout was the only one who had any muscle tone to brag about and Tuffnut himself was more well developed. Fishlegs, however, had the shape of a meat ball and Hiccup was as skinny as a stick. Both Belchus and Snotlout had hairy chests, something the other boys did not have. Another thing Snotlout prided himself in.

The boys still wore their vests, as it was rather cold up on the cliff, as they waited with Slackjaw and the two chiefs for the girls to come out. When they finally did, the boys tried hard not to stare. The only one who was not that impressive to look at was Cake. The girls all wore flowing two piece garments that showed off their curves, with the exception of Cake, who didn't have any curves. Snotlout, Sandy, and Noseferatu especially wouldn't stop staring.

"So are you going to explain why we're dressed like this?" Astrid asked, coming to stand beside Hiccup who merely stared at the ground.

"I guess," Slackjaw huffed. "This challenge is simplicity itself. See this cliff?" He gestured to the tall cliff that they were standing before. The kids nodded nervously. "You are to jump off this cliff into the safe zone marked out in the ocean below." The two tribes looked over the edge and gasped. It was a huge drop, and there was a ring of rocks to mark out where they were supposed to land. "For those of you who jump and make it into the safe zone, you will earn points for your team. You may chicken out if you wish to, but if you do, or if you do not land in the safe zone, you will get nothing."

Fishlegs opened his mouth to ask why he kept calling it the safe zone, but then decided that it would be better if they didn't know. "Is this safe?" he asked nervously, carefully peering over the edge. Slackjaw rolled his yellow eyes.

"Of course it's not!" he growled. "Why do you think I'm having you do it? Now, who wants to go first?"

"I shall go first," Belchus spoke before anyone could react. "As the future chief of the tribe, it is my duty to go first to see that it is survivable. Then the rest of you shall follow." Spreading his arms out, Belchus leaped off the cliff, soaring a few feet before plummeting perfectly towards the ocean, a determined look on his face. The Kreb teen entered the water in the safe zone without barely disturbing the water.

"Berk," Slackjaw snapped. "One of you goes next."

"I don't know," Fishlegs told them, shivering. "I'm kind of afraid of heights. And dying violently." Slackjaw shuffled over to him and Fishlegs flinched as he patted him on the back.

"Do not worry," he said. "You do not have to jump if you do not wish to." Fishlegs brightened as he looked at him.

"Really?" the boy asked hopefully.

"No," Slackjaw stated and shoved Fishlegs right off the cliff. They all could hear a loud, high pitched scream from Fishlegs all the way down. There was a humongous splash when the boy landed hard in the water.

Hiccup rushed over and peered over the cliff to see if Fishlegs was alright. Thankfully, he was floating safely in the water, right outside the safe zone. Before Hiccup could stand up, Sandy strode over, shoving him to the side.

"I shall go next," he declared. Blowing a kiss at Ruffnut, he added, "Wish me luck, Babe." Then he jumped. He made an awesome pose as he threw himself off, then suddenly they could hear a very high pitched and girly scream as he descended. Mandy shoved her face in her hand with embarrassment and Ruffnut blinked in surprise as Tuffnut snickered.

"I'll go next," Astrid told her friends, striding over to the edge of the cliff and peering over it.

"Good luck," Hiccup told her, taking a few steps back to give her room. She smiled and winked at him.

"See you at the bottom," she told him. She backed away a few paces then took a running dive off the cliff. She zoomed through the air, fast as lighting and in a perfectly straight dive, hitting the water moments later and reemerging completely fine.

Cake slowly and carefully scooted herself towards the edge of the cliff; peered over it and gave a start of fright, stepping backwards. "I don't know," she mumbled. "I don't think I'm going to-"

They didn't find out what she wasn't going to do, because at that moment, Slackjaw annoyed that no one was injured or dead yet, shuffled over to Cake, picked her up and tossed her over the cliff. She screamed and cried all the way down.

"Ok, I'm next," Snotlout declared, taking a few steps back, intending to run at the cliff in the same fashion Astrid had done. He ran for the cliff, leaped… and hit the ground hard, miss timing his jump. Dizzily standing up, he took a few steps back and tried again, jumping too soon once again and hitting the ground right before the cliff.

"Hurry up and jump off the cliff already," Tuffnut sighed. "You're embarrassing us."

"I is not doing no jumping," Snotlout slurred, all jumbled up. "I'm doing just embarrassing fine, thank you very much." He stumbled around, trying to find his position.

"Hey Snotlout," Hiccup started to say. "Watch for the-" And then Snotlout tripped and fell over the cliff, screaming in panic as he did. "-Cliff…"

Without saying anything, Sharkfeet ran at the edge and jumped right off, the same expressionless look on his face. He landed in the water front first and with a crash, slowly sinking into the water. Everyone cringed at the sight.

"That has got to hurt," Mandy said, shivering as she looked over the side. She wrapped her arm around Tuffnut's arm. "We could jump together, if you like," she said flirtatiously. "Or we could wait until everyone else has gone, if you know what I mean."

Tuffnut blinked at her before turning to Hiccup and Ruffnut. "I'll go next," he offered, pulling his arm away from Mandy. Before they could have any time to reply, he quickly ran over to the cliff and jumped right off, a look of pure relief on his face. Ruffnut pressed herself to Hiccup's side as Mandy ran over to the edge.

"Tuffnut!" she cried. "Wait for me!" And then she jumped. But not before hitting a rock that was jutting out on the way down.

Noseferatu looked down as he team mate descended, crying in pain before turning back to Hiccup and Ruffnut, still close together. "See?" he asked in his annoying voice. "I told you this would be fun!" He turned to Slackjaw. "Can I jump next?"

Slackjaw cocked an eyebrow at him, seeing as Noseferatu was the only one left of his team who was still on the cliff. Without waiting for reply, Noseferatu happily skipped over to the cliff and jumped. He hit a rock that was just below the cliff. And another rock below that. In fact, the poor boy was hitting rocks jutting out of the cliff all the way down to the ocean. Ruffnut and Hiccup could hear his cries of "Ouch!" all the way down.

Sighing, Ruffnut reluctantly left Hiccup's side and made her way over to the edge. She looked quite dignified as she strode towards it, but just before she reached the cliff, she tripped over her own two feet and toppled right over the edge. Hiccup ran over to the edge and was relieved to see her uninjured, though she did look a little peeved on the way down.

That just left Hiccup alone at the top of the cliff with Slackjaw. He hadn't meant to go last, it just worked out that way while he was working up his courage. And just as he was realizing this, he could hear the sound of metal sliding out of a sheath behind him and he knew that Slackjaw was pulling out a hidden dagger. He knew what that evil man was planning on doing with it.

_It's now or never,_ Hiccup thought to himself, quickly standing and jumping off before Slackjaw could even take two paces towards him. Hiccup had fallen great heights before, so he was more used to it than some of his friends, but it still made him nervous as he gathered speed, heading straight towards the ocean. He could just imagine himself bursting apart as he hit the hard ocean, and he shut his eyes, waiting for the end.

But it never came. Instead, water crashed around his head and the air in his body left him. Holding in what little air he had left, Hiccup swam towards the direction he hoped was up and a few moments later, he emerged above the waves, gasping for breath.

"Are you ok?" he heard Astrid ask. Opening his eyes, he found himself only a few inches away from Astrid.

"I think so," Hiccup gasped. He looked around and found himself inside the ring of rocks that marked the safe zone. Not too far away, Stoick and Stench stood at the shore, making sure all of the Vikings were there.

"Good," Stoick sighed with relief. "They're all alive."

"Now stay right where you are, kids," Stench called to them. "We need to see who got into the safe zone and count up the points. Don't worry, a dragon is coming to get you all out of there."

As it turned out, only Hiccup and Astrid had managed to land in the safe zone for Berk. Belchus and Sharkfeet had also landed in the safe zone, and surprisingly, so did Cake. They had to take away a few points since she had been thrown off, but it was still obvious that Kreb had won. And they bragged about it.

"I don't know why they think they dominated this challenge," Tuffnut growled as they slowly made their way back to camp so they could get warm and dry. "Barely any of them even made it."

"Yeah," Snotlout sneered. "And one of them was thrown in. It was a lucky shot."

"I think something bit me while we were out there," Fishlegs complained, limping. His leg was bleeding badly and there were bite marks imbedded in his boot.

"You should have that checked out," Hiccup told him, worry in his face. "Here, I'll help you." Supporting Fishlegs, the two of them went ahead of the others, making their way towards Gobber and the rest of the tribe. Concern was growing inside Hiccup. He knew there was something dangerous in that ocean; that was obvious. And he was sure that Slackjaw knew that there was something out there, otherwise he wouldn't have been so eager about this challenge. But Hiccup didn't want to know what was out there. He just wanted to know what Slackjaw was planning next, and if he and his friends were going to survive.

**Um, so yeah. This chapter was simplicity in itself. I hope you didn't die while reading this chapter. Hopefully you didn't find it too boring. And I also hope that you found the way some of them jumped off the cliff to be humorous. I did. Next chapter, Sir Weston will return so you can yell at her. R&R.**


	9. Chapter 9

**How to Survive your Opposites**

**Looks like you guys really liked the last chapter! I'm insulted (but not really.) Anyway, I actually have ideas for the next three chapters, so hopefully they will be up a lot sooner than the last one. Hooray! Anyway, here you go.**

**Chapter 9 – Three Day Cabin Junk**

Hiccup didn't think the challenges could get any worse than the one they had just endured when Stoic came to them the next day saying that the teens were getting dumped into the woods for their next challenge.

"Could we get a few more details, please?" Astrid had requested.

"Sure!" Stoic said, happily, "You're going to be split into three groups of two, along with the Kreb teens, and sent into the woods to live in a run down old cabin for three days! Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"No," Fishlegs replied.

"Not at all," said Hiccup.

"That's the spirit!" Stoic exclaimed, slapping the teens hard on the back, "Let's get going to see Slackjaw so he can tell ya more!"

Grumbling, the teens followed him to where Slackjaw was waiting with Kreb and his terrifying dragon. He glared at Hiccup as they approached.

"Good," he hissed, "Everyone is here. Now let me explain the thing that I am about to explain to you. You will be split…"

The vulture man suddenly drifted off and bowed his head. Everyone stared as he made no reaction at all. Annoyed, Stoic nudged Slackjaw hard in the ribs.

"Split into three groups of two!" Slackjaw exclaimed, snapping back to attention, "Then you will be paired with two people from the other tribe and taken to an out of the way cabin right in the middle of the woods. Whoever makes the best of their situation, wins."

"And we specifically paired you all with someone we know you'll hate," Stench added. Everyone groaned. "Okay, first team we have for Kreb, is Belchus and Mandy."

Belchus and Mandy's expressions were both completely unreadable.

"Then we have Noseferatu and Sharkfeet." Noseferatu exclaimed with joy and held up his hand for Sharkfeet to hive five him. Sharkfeet slowly raised one paw and hit the small boy hard, sending him to the ground.

"And last we have Cake and Sandy." Cake looked like she was going to cry, and Sandy sneered, obviously upset.

"Okay," Stoic said, stepping forward, "For Berk we have Snotlout and Fishlegs." The two boys named gave each other a high five. "Hiccup and Ruffnut." The two stared awkwardly at the ground. "And Tuffnut and Astrid." The two scowled at each other.

"Slackjaw," Stench said, turning to the vulture man, "You want to tell them whom they'll be staying with?"

"Not particularly," Slackjaw replied.

Stoic sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. Snotlout and Fishlegs you're with Noseferatu and Sharkfeet." All of them (except you know who) looked very disappointed. "Astrid and Tuffnut, you're with Sandy and Cake." Astrid and Tuffnut both groaned. And Hiccup swallowed. That just left…

"Hiccup and Ruffnut, you're with Belchus and Mandy." Mandy looked rather displeased at not being with Tuffnut, and Belchus remained expressionless.

"All right then," Slackjaw wheezed, "Get onto my dragon so we can fly you to your cabin." As the teens all easily climbed on, Slackjaw _slowly_ lifted himself up onto his terrifying monster dragon. With a mighty roar, it leapt into the air and flew towards the woods. Hiccup tried not to look down or at Slackjaw as he bounced up and down on his beast, even though it was flying smoothly and beautifully (or as beautifully as a monster dragon can fly.)

When they reached the first cabin, with no warning at all, Slackjaw shoved Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Noseferatu off the back of the dragon. Sharkfeet just sort of slid sideways off it and fell on top of his cabin mates. The next cabin, Astrid gracefully got off the dragon, Tuffnut carefully climbed off, Sandy kind of stumbled off, and Cake fell off and got her head stuck in a hole. At the last cabin, Hiccup and Ruffnut helped each other down, and Belchus got down all regal like. Mandy tried to be graceful as she got off, but she tripped, and fell face first into the dirt. Then the dragon gave a monster dragon roar and flew off.

Belchus was the first to say anything after the dragon was long gone, and the four of them still had not moved. "I am going inside," he announced, "And then I am going to pick my bed." Then he picked Mandy up by the back of her shirt and carried her inside.

After a while of standing there staring at the ground, Hiccup and Ruffnut went inside too. What they found went they went in made them very uncomfortable.

"There's only three beds," Hiccup murmured. And Belchus and Mandy had already taken two of them. That just left one. "Looks we're going to have to share a bed, huh?" he said weakly to Ruffnut.

"Looks like it," she muttered.

…

Elsewhere, Astrid and Tuffnut were experiencing the same disappointment. Astrid and Cake had immediately taken two of the beds, leaving the third one for Tuffnut and Sandy to fight over. Being more muscularly built than Tuffnut, Sandy won, forcing Tuffnut to beg Astrid to let him share her bed.

"But I have a couple of rules for you," she warned, "First of all, no touching me. No pressing against me, no breathing on me, no cuddling up next to me, in fact, don't even look at me. I don't want anyone thinking we're together or anything."

Tuffnut rolled his eyes. "Got it," he muttered.

…

Meanwhile, Fishlegs and Snotlout were _not_ having the same problem as the other four. For some reason, unlike the other two cabins, their cabin had _four_ beds; one for each of them. In fact, the beds were far from their minds, for as soon as they had arrived, Snotlout had given Noseferatu such a huge wedgie, that he had managed to yank his underwear off and then threw it into a tree for the poor nerd to fetch. Sharkfeet did not help him at all.

As it got dark, the four lit a fire outside their cabin and had dinner from whatever they could find. Fishlegs seemed quite at ease, sitting at the fire, and even Snotlout felt relaxed. He leaned back in his chair, feeling the warmth of the fire, and feeling glad that no one had anything to say to each other.

That is, until Noseferatu decided it was too quiet and took out a tiny little instrument that looked like a piece of tree barf. Clearing his throat, he raised the ugly little thing to his lips and blew. A piercing wail of noise came shrieking from it, causing Snotlout to fall backwards.

Angrily, he seized the thing and tossed it into the fire, then glared at Noseferatu, as if daring him to protest. Wisely, he did not.

**I think I'm gonna end this chapter there. I have a lot for next chapter, and I want to make it really long to make up for some of the more pathetically shorter chapters. So yeah, the next two chapters are continuing this cabin challenge. And I don't care if cabins were invented yet, it's my fan fiction, so if you don't like it, tough.**

**Also, I was going to have Astrid and Tuffnut have a mutual respect for each other, but tossed it aside for a more bitter, hostile, unexplained long-term grudge kind of thing. Much more funny.**

**Also, heads up! There _might_ be a sappy kiss in the next chapter. _Might_ be.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Last time started a new challenge. Today we continue it. For those of you with short-term memory loss, the kids were split into groups and thrown into the woods, having to survive for three days. How well do they do? Let's find out.**

**Chapter 10 – If a Tree Crushes Your Ankle in a Forest…**

Right off the bat Astrid knew she was going to hate this challenge. First of all, Hiccup was not there for her to squeeze and love. Second, Tuffnut was there, and, (for a reason neither of them would explain) they didn't see eye to eye, and were prone to arguing. Third, Sandy was also there, and just like nearly everyone else who met him, Astrid did not like him, or how horny he got around her best friend. But mostly because Hiccup wasn't there.

Tuffnut also knew he was going to hate this challenge, but for one reason only: he was going to be trapped in a dinky little cabin in the middle of a dense forest with Sandy and Astrid (whom he was not fond of at the moment) for three whole stinkin' days.

On the first night, Astrid would lie awake for minutes before she woke Tuffnut up and forced him to switch sides with her. Then she would become annoyed as he fell instantly back to sleep, while she continued to struggle with sleep. Finally, deciding that she didn't want to be the only one awake, Astrid carefully leaned over Tuffnut, put her lips to his ear, and whispered something _very_ private in his ear. His eyes snapped open immediately, and he could not get back to sleep for the rest of the night.

…

Snotlout knew that this challenge was just going to suck. This was because he found out that _everyone in the cabin snored like hobos._ Noseferatu couldn't keep his gigantic mouth shut at any time. Even while chewing. And Sharkfeet had some sort of anger issue and seemed to get mad at everything.

Fishlegs as well knew that he would not enjoy this particular challenge. There were bugs, and angry little spiders, and not to mention mice that scurried around the cabin. Noseferatu was annoying, he was pretty sure Sharkfeet hated him, and worst of all, everyone snored like they had a sinus infection.

That night, the two would take turns lying awake, listening to their cabin mates' snoring. Eventually Snotlout couldn't take any more, and took his pillow, walked over to Noseferatu (who was snoring the worst) and pressed his pillow to his face, trying to smother him. He kicked and screamed until Snotlout fell asleep.

…

There were several reasons why Hiccup knew he was not going to like this challenge. One, he was trapped in a cabin with Belchus, who wouldn't stop staring at him. Two, Mandy was a freak. And three, he felt very uncomfortable around Ruffnut, as she refused to look at him. It was all very tiring.

Ruffnut felt the same way about this challenge. Now that Hiccup knew she had a crush on him, it was very awkward to be around him, especially when they were alone. She had no idea what to say to him, and just couldn't look him in the eye. Oh, and that Mandy was really annoying, too.

On the first night out in the cabin, Hiccup had to keep inching away from Ruffnut to giver her room, and she would immediately press up against him, so eventually they were sleeping at the edge of the bed. Hiccup could feel Ruffnut clutching at the back of his shirt, and hear her soft breathing, which was a lot less obnoxious than her brother's breathing. At some point during the night, Hiccup woke up and saw that Ruffnut was no longer in bed next to him, and the door was slightly open. Quickly wrapping himself up in a blanket, he went outside to look for Ruffnut.

He didn't have to look very hard, for as soon as he went outside, he saw her leaning against a tree, staring up at the sky. He walked over to her and carefully wrapped the blanket around her. He heard her take a sharp breath, as if she didn't know he was there. They stood there, huddled together for a while. Eventually, Ruffnut turned to Hiccup.

Before either could realize what was happening, Ruffnut had pressed her lips to Hiccup's. She kissed him deeply, warming him even more than the blanket. Her arms were wrapped around him, and he found that he was kissing her just as hard. After a while they suddenly pulled apart, as if suddenly realizing what they were doing. Neither of them said anything, and eventually Hiccup went back inside, leaving Ruffnut to stare at the ground.

…

The first actual day of the challenge was a nightmare. As soon as they woke up, Astrid and Tuffnut had found something to be mad about. In this case, it was how freezing it was, even though it was summer.

"So go find some fire wood," Sandy told them rudely.

"You go find fire wood," Astrid growled.

"I can't," Sandy said, "I'm busy toning my muscles."

Astrid sighed with annoyance. "Come on, Tuffnut," she ordered.

"I don't want to go," he told her.

"Well I'm definitely not going out there alone," she snapped, "It's cold, and I'll get lonely. So come on."

Tuffnut rolled his eyes in anger, but did as he was told. They left the cabin and ventured out into the woods. They didn't see Sandy slip out of the cabin, too.

As they walked through the woods, not finding any wood suitable to burn, they started getting irritated with each other. First they simply started arguing, then they started yelling at each other, then Astrid started to storm off.

It was at that moment when Tuffnut heard a strange sound. He looked up and saw a huge, ancient tree that was sort of bent sideways, and it took him moment to realize that it was falling. Surprised, he looked to see what it was going to fall on and saw that Astrid was walking right under it. For a moment he considered letting the tree fall on her, but quickly thought better of it. He rushed forward.

"Astrid!" he called, "Watch out!"

Astrid just barely had time to look up and see the tree when Tuffnut tackled her from the side, thrusting her out of the way. There was a sickening crunch as the tree fell, and Astrid heard Tuffnut gasp with pain. Panting heavily, the two clutched at each other, Astrid shuddering horribly, and Tuffnut squeezing Astrid as if she was going float away or something. Astrid gulped and looked back at the fallen tree.

She could just make out Tuffnut's leg trapped underneath it. Blood slowly pooled up from the tree. The fallen tree had smashed Tuffnut's ankle. Shuddering at how close that had been, Astrid looked at Tuffnut.

"Are you okay?" he muttered.

"I'm fine," she replied, "But are you okay? That tree landed on your leg!"

"Ah, that didn't hurt at all," he scoffed, but Astrid knew he was lying as he cringed when he tried to move.

Astrid sighed. "What happened?" she asked.

"I don't know," Tuffnut confessed, "All I know is that one moment everything was calm, the next moment the tree was falling."

Astrid slowly got to her feet and looked back at the tree as Tuffnut continued to lie there. "Do you think someone cut it down?" she asked.

"I don't know," she heard Tuffnut murmur, "That tree is pretty old. Maybe it just fell."

The girl sighed and turned back to the pathetic boy in the dirt. "Come on," she said, carefully helping him up, "Let's get back to the cabin."

…

"I'm going to blame you for this," Snotlout told Fishlegs as they stood at the top of a roaring waterfall. The two of them had gone out to look for food and wound up completely lost.

"But I was just following you!" Fishlegs objected, "You were the one who insisted he knew a short cut back to the cabin!"

"I've never been here before!" Snotlout pointed out, "You should've known I had no idea where we were going!"

Fishlegs blinked a few times. "Oh my gosh," he said, "You're right, Snotlout! It's all my fault! Oh I feel like such an idiot!"

"Calm down," Snotlout snapped at him, "Blaming you will get us nowhere. Let's just try retracing our steps. We'll be back in no time!" Then, with great confidence, he started to stride off in a random direction.

Fishlegs was about to point out that that was the wrong way, but decided against it and simply followed him. After awhile, Snotlout started to lose some of his confidence and the sun was burning brightly overhead. Suddenly they heard rustling in the bushes in front of them. Fishlegs squeaked and hid behind Snotlout. They stood there in rigged terror.

"Come on out!" Snotlout warned, shakily, "I've got a weapon!"

Before Fishlegs could manage to open his mouth to say "no you don't," the girl Thorn stepped out of the bushes. The two immediately stopped quivering.

"Oh!" Snotlout exclaimed, trying to sound smooth, "It's that girl! Hey there! I was just thinking how I needed a pretty girl to come along."

Thorn giggled. "Why thank you," she said, "I heard talking so I came to investigate."

"What were you doing here, Thorn?" Fishlegs wondered.

"My tribe made this forest their home," she replied, "I like to patrol it in case anyone has gotten lost or injured." She paused to look at them. "Are you lost?"

"No," Snotlout answered.

"Yes," Fishlegs said, glaring at his friend.

Thorn giggled. "Well I'd be happy to lead you back to your cabins," she told them, "Follow me!" Happily, the two boys followed Thorn.

She easily moved through the forest and obviously knew where she was going, for which Snotlout and Fishlegs were grateful. It would've probably taken them days to get back on their own. Eventually they emerged from the bushes and into a clearing where their cabin was.

"Good luck boys!" Thorn called, before retreating back into the woods.

It wasn't until they were settled back in when Fishlegs wondered how Thorn knew that they had been in a cabin.

…

When Tuffnut and Astrid got back to the cabin, Sandy looked very surprised to see them.

"How come you're here?" he asked, flabbergasted. **(A.N. Every author's dream: to use the word "flabbergasted" in a sentence.)**

"Because unfortunately we were put in this cabin with you, remember?" Astrid growled at him, leading Tuffnut over to the bed.

"But that tree was supposed to crush you!" Sandy burst out.

Astrid and Tuffnut glared at him. _"You _made that tree fall on us?" Tuffnut growled.

"Do you know how awkward that was?" Astrid yelled at him.

"I'm going to make sure Ruffnut knows about this," Tuffnut warned.

Sandy scoffed. "Like she'll care," he laughed. And that tore it for Tuffnut.

Ignoring his injured leg, he tackled Sandy, his fingers wrapped around the boy's throat. They struggled on the floor, both trying to strangle each other, as Astrid stood there yelling "Get him, Tuffnut!" And Cake sat on her bed with wide eyes. But before their fight could get too bad, Slackjaw suddenly burst in.

"Hey!" he yelled, "Get up off the floor and follow me! NOW!" Then, without explaining himself, he turned on his heel and shuffled out the door. Annoyed, Tuffnut and Sandy got up and the four of them followed him, Tuffnut leaning on Astrid's shoulder.

They slowly followed Slackjaw down a path away from the cabin, wondering what was going on. Was this stupid challenge going to end early? But they didn't get their hopes up.

Eventually they entered a very large clearing and were surprised to see the others, as well as Stoic and Stench.

"Ah there ya are, Slackjaw!" Stench cried, "We were afraid you had gotten lost along the way and we'd have to come looking for ya!"

"It's a perfectly straight path," Slackjaw muttered.

"Ha! Ha! Of course it is!" Stench roared, slapping the man hard on the back. "Well, now that we're all here, let's get this over with."

"Get what over with?" Hiccup wondered.

"Well, we've decided to check your progress," Stoic explained, "What have you all been up to since we saw you last?"

"Tuffnut and Sandy got into two fights," Astrid replied almost immediately.

"Dude!" Tuffnut hissed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ruffnut glaring at him, knowing she was taking Sandy's side, even though she had no idea what the fights were about.

Stench frowned. "Well that won't do," he said, "Okay, Sandy and Mandy, you two are switching cabins." Both of them whispered "yes!" and pumped their fists in the air.

"Anything else?" Slackjaw asked, looking like he really didn't want to be there.

"Me and Snotlout got lost in the forest!" Fishlegs replied.

"Why?" Snotlout growled, "Why would you tell them that?"

"What?" Fishlegs wondered, "I was just answering the question."

After Kreb had absolutely nothing to say at all (Sandy generously leaving out how he had tried to crush Tuffnut and Astrid with a tree) Stench declared that they all go back to their cabins. The six teens from Berk, however, stuck around a bit longer.

"What happened to your leg?" Snotlout asked Tuffnut, noticing his friend's serious limp.

"Oh, Sandy just dropped a tree on it," he replied casually, not looking at his sister.

"Oh is that all?" Snotlout muttered.

"This challenge is kind of annoying, don't you think?" Hiccup wondered.

"Oh good," Astrid sighed, "I was hoping that I wasn't the only one thinking that."

"That Slackjaw looked kind of annoyed, huh?" Fishlegs pointed out.

"Probably because there's no way we can die in this challenge," Hiccup said.

"Tell that to my bleeding ankle," Tuffnut muttered.

"I guess it's not all bad," Snotlout objected, "I mean, at least we all get our own beds, right?" He paused when he saw Tuffnut and Astrid in particular looking furious. "What?"

"What makes you so special?" Astrid growled, "We have to share a bed, and this one kept me up all night!"

"Don't you mean you kept me up all night?" Tuffnut corrected.

"What about you two?" Fishlegs asked, turning to Hiccup and Ruffnut, "Do you have to share a bed?"

The two of them looked at the ground and muttered their responses. Before anyone could ask them what they had said, a high-pitched scratchy voice took them by surprise.

"Hey you kids!" Slackjaw exclaimed, making them all jump, "Get back to your cabins! Now!"

Muttering a hasty farewell to each other, the six kids broke off onto the three different paths back to their cabins. Hiccup looked back only once and wished he hadn't. Slackjaw was standing in the clearing, glaring at him.

**If I write anymore for this chapter, then I won't have anything for the next. Hope you guys liked the kissing scene! Don't worry; there'll be more, I promise.**

**Also, you don't know this, but Slackjaw had actually neglected to get Astrid, Tuffnut, Cake, and Sandy at first. When he got to the clearing where Stoic, Stench and the other kids were, he showed up alone.**

"**Where are the kids?" Stoic had asked him.**

"**What kids?" Slackjaw replied.**

**Yup. Anyway, next chapter will (hopefully) bring the conclusion of this challenge, and then another fun challenge will happen, that I've already got planned out! Fun, right? I know!**

**As always, read and review, or I will (metaphorically) literally die!**


	11. To my readers

My dear readers, I regret to inform you that I will not be finishing this fanfiction.

Due to the release of the newest Howto Train Your Dragon books and movie, I have gotten very depressed about the entire series, and have lost all my motivation for it. So, unfortunately, I will not be finishing these fanfictions.

I will, however, keep them up for you. And I am continuing my other fanfictions, just not my HTTYD ones. If any of you would like to finish them for me, be my guest. I'm just not going to do it.

It's been nice reading your reviews! Sorry it had to end like this, but blame the franchise, the books, and the new movie. I don't care how much praise it got (I know it's definitely not better than Frozen!) but the movie and the latest books have made it hard for me to enjoy the series anymore. I'm sorry. I can't finish this.

See you around.

Sincerily, Sir Weston.


End file.
